Behind, Between & Beyond
by Jhon's Pen Mode
Summary: A Time Travel Story. A Dimensional Travel Story. A AU Story. A wrong BWL Story. A Dark HHR Story. There are a bunch of cliches in this Story.
1. Verse of Innoncence

**AN: **Since my other history is in hiatus thanks to a massive writer block, I will publish this idea of mine that had been haunting me for a while. I hope that you like it.

**Summary: **One day, their world betrayed them, dooming them into oblivion. One day, they started anew, with their innocence taken away. One day, they raised against the world. Would they succeed.

**Pairings: **Harry/Hermione, Luna/OC. Other pairings later on.

* * *

**BEHIND, BETWEEN & BEYOND**

**Chapter 1: Verse of Innocence **

After a whole night of pounding rain, the dawn looked bright and had a golden shine into it that hold a promise of good luck to anybody in the right mood. The morning sun filtered its warming rays through the colorless windows of a two story house in the Godric's Hallow Village, until they tenderly touched a young boy's face, bathing in light, waking in him up. Said young boy had a pitch black messy hair, and starling, and eerie, green jaded eyes. The young boy stayed on his bed, looking at the ceiling for a couple of minutes without blinking, like he was still trying to wake up or like he was in his own little world, lost in thought, quite literally. For the briefest of seconds, the boy's emerald eyes became gray and glassy, before coming back to normal.

And then, the boy smiled.

With a started, the pale looking boy jumped from bed, and walked over where the full body mirror was, stuck on one of the walls, to look at himself, in every angle that he could. Somehow, this was not an action born of vanity or in a jest, but more like an examination. And whatever the boy was looking for, it wasn't found, if the frown on his faces was anything to go by. Shaking his head in resignation, the boy went into the bathroom, getting out 20 minutes later, now refreshed and clean.

Clothing quickly with normal looking clothes, the boy took a backpack, putting some books, a notebook and money in it, before taking it downstairs.

It is curious to know that, if looked closely, one could see that one Harry James Potter was apprehensive, like he didn't knew what he would have to encounter at the end of the stairs that he was so carefully crossing down. Curious indeed.

* * *

Kilometers away, a normal looking house between Crescent Road and Elisabeth Way Street, in Essex, United Kingdom, a brunette girl was finishing her casual attire of a beige blouse and blue jeans, before picking her book bag and putting it on her shoulder before going down to the first floor of the house, to see her parents talking about something random while enjoying their sips of delicious morning tea, like it had been their costume for a while.

"Good morning pumpkin, you really are up early today. You should enjoy your remaining days of vacation a little more, don't you think, sweetheart?" said the mother warmly while she wrapped her little clone of a daughter in a bear motherly hug, which said girl returned.

"I want a good morning hug too, my little _tinkerbell_." Demanded the dad, faking a pout that sent both females in fit of giggles. Nonetheless, the girl jumped toward her dad and repeated her early actions with him. Soon after, the little girl took a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits before joining her parents in their morning playful banter with each other. Both dentist, Emma and Daniel Granger, were surprised that her little daughter didn't joined them with her face buried in a book, but didn't comment on it and went with the flow.

"Mom, Dad, I want to go to the Library to check some books, can I stay until later? I want to participate in today's event." plead Hermione to her parents after a while with her puppy dog eyes.

The Gidea Park Library was rather famous for their random, as well as planned, events that they organized, especially for kids, as a campaign to motivate their customers to read more. It was funny to watch and both parents had heard a lot of good things of the library. With a quick conversation with their eyes, something that always amazed Hermione about her parents, both progenitors agreed in letting her go. Insistent that she could go there by herself, it was only a twenty minutes walk from their house, the bookworm even made a happy dance to show her enthusiasm. Hermione won the argument, promising that she would be back before 3:00 pm.

Nodding her head off, Hermione excitedly flew through the door and walked fast enough for a couple of blocks. However, checking over her shoulder that she wasn't being followed, turned to her right into a dead end alley. Checking again her surrounding, confirming her privacy, the girl disappeared in a blink of an eye, like she was sucked by a little tiny hole somewhere. Not even a sound was made at the wake of her abnormal departure.

* * *

When Harry got down, he saw a redhead woman on the small table that was near the kitchen. On her right hand was a mug of hot coffee while her left hand flipped the pages of a considerable thick book. Her sparkling deep emerald eyes, the same as his own, were totally buried in the worlds of the book, or more accurately, the symbols that were visible to him as he walked silently toward her, while the woman, that didn't look past her early twenties, while in reality she was much older, not even acknowledged Harry.

"_A Rune Compendium, the 11th tome of Charlemagne's Archmage if I'm not mistaken. A quite a rare tome, and advanced one at that. It seems that Lady Potter has interesting deeps on her._" Thought Harry while he sat in front of her without making a sound. Immediately, a plate of breakfast appeared in front of him, courtesy of one of the house elves at the service of the Potter Family. Harry ate silently, his mother never noticed his presence or, if she did, she dismissed it was unimportant, though it was rather unlikely. The sad thing? Harry not even was under a 'Not-Notice-Me' Charm. But there was something surreal in the way that he moved. It was too efficient, like it was trained so much that it came a second nature to him, that made all his movements controlled, showing only what he wanted to show. His meal was quiet and fast. When finished, he stood up as his plate vanished in the same way that it had appeared.

With a steady pace, Harry took his backpack and walked out the front door. When he was at the sidewalk, he stood in front of his house, silently watching it. This place was supposed to be a place of welcoming warm and happiness, a safe haven for those that lived inside as those that were welcomed in it, being friends or family. And yet, he, a child of this nest, wasn't part of that love and goodwill feelings; instead, he had been ignored and emotionally neglected on daily basis as long as he could remember. Giving the house one last glance, Harry walked away while a soft tune danced through his lips. After he walked two blocks away, the raven haired child walked into a deserted alley and disappeared into thin air as he was walking.

Not even the passing gust of wind noticed the strange occurrence.

* * *

There were few totally magical settlements in the world. Wars, cataclysms and persecution having driven them almost to extinction in a little more of 2 millennia; and of those that had survive, only a few were widespread known. **Zeal Island** wasn't one of them.

Zeal Island was in the epicenter of the Bermuda's Triangle. Their historic folklore had tales of ancient times, when the sky had two moons, eons ago, and when the Island was part of a huge continent that floated above the clouds. The circumstances revolving their falling from grace had been lost to memory, but their traditions and social rituals pointed that there is some truth in those tales. Nowadays, only two small settlements reminded, built upon the ruins of had been a great civilization: **Toa Town**, at the south, and **Schala Village**, at the north.

While at peace, both communities, both of them 100% magical, were rather competitive, this resulted in rather competitive festivals between the two. It also lead to random arguments about whose was best. Otherwise it was quite peaceful. One could say that it was a perfect live if one could ignore how close as a society they were. First of all, while their magical advances, if limited, were quite developed, their mundane knowledge was pedestrian at best. It was like they unconsciously rejected anything that wasn't tied with magic and they kept their traditions close to heart. While many of these traditions had been good, and had helped them to preserve their cultural inheritance and identity, some of them were rather detrimental to their future. An example would be their reject and negligence to their squibs. It was until recently that they had the costume to kill any squib that was born in an attempt to preserve the honor and avoid the shame that would surely befall upon the family. If an squib was born it meant that the family's lineage was losing its connection with magic and were becoming less powerful; this made more difficult to gain new magical blood into the family through marriage or gain more status within them, losing their opportunity to become Great Chief of the village, the highest honor, when the current passed away.

The current Chief, Giddgidoni of Merramante, had abolished such practice of killing the new infants, when he ascended to his position of leadership, labeled it as outlawed. Still, for some reason, squibs just disappear out the map and never returned. It was believed that they just went to the other community at the other side of the island,

Both of them were mistaken.

**Nu**, having adopted his name because he was told that he was born in a rainy day, was a squib and he felt that something was terribly wrong with the situation. Nu wasn't his real name, because he actually didn't have one. His memory was erased, alongside any possibility to discover his lineage through his blood, with a ritual of disinheritance that was borderline dark, not that many cared, ending all the possibilities to find out who he truly was. And that's why he was at the shore, with a canoe that he crafted himself, with a animal skin made backpack with all the positions that he ever had: fruits and dried meat that he had collected during the last week, a bone knife and a magical compass that he had stolen.

"_Goodbye, you my scariest nightmare. Goodbye to the hateful glares that you gave me, people of Toa, as I had been a stain on your otherwise immaculate land. Goodbye to your disdain, isolation and silent anger, to your cold eyes looking me as I was the responsible of all your disgraces and misfortune." _Thought Nu, while he saw one last time the watchtowers above the wooden defenses of the town in the distance. _"One day I'll show you how big your mistake was." _Having readied himself, he turn his back to his birthplace and was about to jump into the canoe when he sensed to presence behind his back that weren't there before.

Spinning around and dashing in one go, the bone knife in his hand, Nu launched himself forward ready to eliminate any witnesses, since leaving the Island meant treason and was punished with death, just to collide with an invisible barrier that, not only stopped him, but also made him bounce a couple of steps back. Before we could regained his balance, the felt how his body became rigid and then a thick white rope covered him from toe to neck, sealing all his movements. He tried to shout some obscenities but discovered that any sound was being said.

This people were magi, and they had discovered his escape. Not only that, but their magic was way faster than anything that he had seen in his life. Calming himself, while keeping his muscles tensed, he saw that both his capturers were young, kids even, within the same age range as he. One, the male, had pitch black messy hair and deep emerald eyes while the other, a female, had brown puffy hair and chocolate honey eyes. Both of them looked calm, but Nu could also see some uneasy in their eyes, as well as weariness and… lodging? Who were these kids anyway? Their white skin was rare in contrast of the cinnamon toned skin that he was accustomed to. Maybe they were form Schala? But he had never seen skin so pale within their ranks either when they got together in the Millennial Carnivals that they celebrated.

Maybe, and just maybe, these two were… outsiders?

Suddenly and silently, the girl took out a small crystal sphere of her pocket. It was translucent bluish, with engravings on it that Nu recognized as runes, and a green colored flame in its middle, moving under the whims of a phantasmal wind. The girl walked toward him and, with any pause or tact, shoved the small sphere into his mouth that was barely able to enter, forcing him to swallow it.

Nu could feel how knowledge that wasn't his started to flow into his brain while he felt an strange energy cruising through his body. He began to lose consciousness barely registering what was happening to him.

"_That was a Soul Crystal! Does it mean that I'm being… possessed?"_

* * *

When the dark skinned boy recovered conscience he discovered that he was laying on a park bench; a park that he recognized all too well.

"_I remember! I remember! But _how?_" _murmuring the last part aloud. He was heard.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, _sleepy beauty._" Singsong a voice that he thought that he would never hear again.

"Take it easy on him Hermione, he would be in shock if you go on your usual banter." Said another voice that he hadn't heard in more than _4 decades_.

"Go and ruin my fun, Harry. Would you?" said the girl, faking annoyance.

It seemed that the raven haired boy was about to retort something, but was interrupted by the now fully awakened Nu.

"HARRY?! HERMIONE?! How? Where? When?" he said, pure disbelief rolling from his words.

"Well, you missed the Why and the Who." Chuckled Harry, clearly amused by the situation. "It IS a LONG story."

"But the last I knew about your whereabouts, you where in the deepest dungeons of Azkaban. And why we look like we are 9 years old?"

"We are 10 years old actually. To make it short: Shit happened, we kicked the bucked, we were trapped in a some sort of Limbo for a while and then we woke up, 3 hours ago I must add, in another dimension in our 10 year old bodies." Summarized Hermione in a nonsense tone.

Both Harry and Nu looked back at her, blinking owlish.

"What?!" she asked, wondering their reaction.

"It just that it's been a while since you compressed so much information like that, that's all." Said Harry defensively.

Nu, in the other hand, started to chuckle. At first it was short and quiet, but latter in grew into a full maniacal evil laugh.

"HAHAUHSUAUSHAUHAUUAH. A SECOND CHANCE! WHO WOULD HAVE SAID IT?! From now on I will not be Nu of Toa. From now on, I will be **Wade D. Wonderweiss**: Mad Scientist."

"Let the craziest science begin!"

.

.

.

.

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END.

I hope that my attempt of deep plot wasn't too confusing. Place mentioned in the first part are real and you can google them.

Also, the whole info around the Zeal Island is taken from one of the best, if not the best, RPG games in history: Chrono Trigger… and I may come back to it later.

Yes, Wade is an OC of my making. I will try to make as few as OCs as possible, but I don't promise anything.

Chapter 2 is already done, but I will leave a couple of days first, more likely a week, to let you, dear reader, post your comments about it. This will let me measure your response and will give me some time to modified if necessary.

R&R


	2. Verse of the Behind: End of the World

**AN** at the end of the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Verse of the Behind: End of the World**

* * *

**Essex, London. August, 1989**

After Wade calmed down from his maniacal frenzy, the three teens went inside the Gidea Park Library to talk in more private location. It seemed that something had been going on inside the library, if the laughing and running kids were anything to go by, but they did not pay any more attention that they have to. Sitting in an isolated table in the middle of three bookcases, the trio made themselves comfortable while Hermione waved her hand, immediately erecting a five layered privacy ward set around them.

"You haven't lost your touch." Commented Harry, half grinning half awed.

"Luna was right about you; you really are something." Said Wade, making Hermione blush, making both of the boys laugh.

"Prats." Murmured Hermione, which made both boys laugh some more.

"But I wanted to know is, how we ended here. Luna told me what happened to both of you, and we conducted our own investigation, but hit many blocks in our part." Said Wade. "Now that I think about it, how did you know of me? I think that we have never met in person."

"Luna told us."

"But how? I joined the Resistance after you were thrown into Azkaban."

"Actually, before that Harry, I want to know what happened after I… disappeared. The last thing that I remember is me working late into the night in the Department of Mysteries and then, me waking up in a cell in Azkaban in the middle of a horde of Dementors." Said Hermione.

"So, there was where you were hidden away." Murmured Harry with a angry frown on his face, though both Wade and Hermione heard him. "A lot of things happened, and you will not believe who was the mastermind behind the scenes."

"Don't tell me it was Voldemort again, somehow."

"Worst." Was his only response and then he started to tell then what he had learnt in his last day on Earth.

* * *

(Flashback- Harry POV)

I turned my head slightly so my gaze could fall on, the strangely opened, window. Outside, I briefly saw the cloudy night sky, as it always had been above the cold weather of Azkaban. It was a rare blessing to see a hole through the clouds, where the full moon and some starts' light filtered through them. It was gone after a couple of seconds, since the clouds always were moving, ready to freeze the warmness of the skies, to stop the beauty of the stars. Still, I was grateful; it was the first time I have seen the moon, or any piece of the outside world for that matter, in almost 15 years.

Turning back my gaze I noticed that my cut opened wrists stopped hurting a while ago. Beneath me, my blood was pooling slowly tainting of crimson de mud covered floor of my cell. In front of me, was a man that he once had called friend: Ronald Billius Weasley himself, now as the Minister of Magic.

How things escalated to this point?

"You know Harry" started Minister Ron, "I never thought that it will end like this." Harry felt remorse in his former friend's voice. "He should" I thought, "he was the one that put me in prison."

"I'm sorry Harry, but now that you had served your purpose, you need to go." And like he wasn't the most important political person in all Magical Britain, the last of the Weasley Clan that he knew of sat down next him, looking at the closed cell door, being careful to not stain his robes with the still flowing blood.

"You know" the redhead started again after a brief pause "it was not your fault, her death." It was clear of who Ron was talking about. "It had been what? 2? 3 decades since Hermione's disappearance? I not even have a body to mourn over." Harry mused, feeling as sad and helpless as he had been the night that he received the news of her disappearance. He sunk in a pit of alcohol and despair for a while. It if hadn't been for Luna, Harry was sure that had committed suicide at some point. After Luna's had help, and how much he owned to his blond friend, Harry had turned from mourning to anger.

Hermione had been kidnapped in her office, in the Unspeakable Department that she had run. Immediately, Harry started an investigation himself after the DMLF closed the case by the lack of proof and suspects. He found clues that somebody in the Ministry was behind all of it, so he searched further. That's when somehow, somebody had found "conclusive proof" that Harry was the perpetrator behind Hermione Granger's disappearance. Overnight, Harry became the public's number one enemy, even after all the things he had done for them and their Voldemort problem.

He had to flee out of the country. Abroad, he created a group of followers to get his revenge. But things went from bad to worse. While he was abroad, his friends started to be killed. First his wife, Ginny, then Dean, Michael Turner, the whole Weasley family bar Ron, who was an Auror at the time. Even former "rehabilitated" Death Eaters were killed. To this point even Ron, who at first had defended him, had turned against him after the "overwhelming proof" in front of him of his dark ways.

It took 5 years, but Harry was defeated. It was a surprised to everyone, because it had been Ron himself that had hunt him down and destroy all his forces before defeating in the most intense magical battle ever seem since Grindelwald.

In his trial, if it could be called like that, Ron had testified against him which was a huge factor in his verdict. Even if Ron had showed remorse and sadness during the whole fiasco, Harry still felt anger and totally alone. Years later, some random guard had informed him how Ron had been elected as the Minister of Magic. It would surprise him before, but now, he didn't care anymore. His brief trip to Memories Land was cut short when his friend talked again.

"Didn't you ever notice that you and Hermione were being fed love, loyalty and other mind controlling potions?" That got his attention. "By who? Well, I never knew every single one of the culprits, but I think that I got the main characters in play. I think that everything goes back t our dear..."

(End of flashback)

* * *

"... Headmaster Dumbledore." It was Wade that completed the sentences, earning a surprised stare from Harry. "Remember that I told you that me and Luna were investigating a way to get you out of there? After you were put in prison, it was publicly release that Hermione was found conspiring against the Ministry and thus was thrown into Azkaban."

"And I never knew because I never received visits from anybody." Concluded Harry, piecing the parts together.

"Yeah. After your duel with Weasley in Stonehenge, he gained so much popularity that he became Ministry of Magic. He even married Susan Bones."

"I can't believe it." Said Hermione numbed. "Ron Bloody Weasley: Ministry of Magic. How wrong the world became for that to happen."

"I find it believable Hermione, after I was defeated by him. He obviously wasn't the same Ron that we knew. I don't know how, but he became rather powerful overnight, and knowledgeable. I would have swear that he was somebody else under a Polijuice Potion if our duel hadn't last almost three hours." Said Harry. "He was the want that killed our friends, and his whole family, and framed it on me. He told me it himself."

* * *

(Flashback- Harry POV)

"I had to kill them, Harry. They were monsters, my family I mean. The others were just collateral damage. It WAS of the ...GREATER GOOD". Somehow, I felt that I was not the only one in this cell that loath with all my being that last phrase.

I couldn't speak, my strength was leaving my at an alarming rate, so I just listen to this fiend confessing his sins.

"All of them were part of Dumbledore's plan after all. You would think that mother Molly was the mastermind of the potions, she did have talent for them, but you would have been wrong. It was father Arthur the main responsible of the Weasley Family's involvement."

"Molly was the front while Arthur was in the shadows directing it all, he was the Head of the Weasley Clan, and thus his authority was unmatched in his household. Bill and Charlie were meant to be examples that you could latch unto, while they run missions for Dumbledore in secret. Percy was there to be a contradicting character, so you could perceive them as a normal family with their own problems; the whole Percy fiasco was also to hint you that their money problem was giving them a hard time so you could help them. It worked, isn't it? They asked for money without asking and made you believe that it was your own idea, like Arthur had planned with Dumbledore's approval. The twins got close to you for your money while, at the same time, they monitored the effects of the potions that you were given and adjusted the treatment when it was needed. While Molly had talent in the field, the twins were down frightening geniuses. Me, well, it was my roll to introduce you into the family as well as becoming your best friend while I guide you to through the right path, while I isolated you form our peers, specially Slytherin's, and Ginny was to bewitch you into her bed. All planned, all run so the Weasley could join the Potter Family and that you, Harry, could be Dumbledore's Ultimate Weapon."

"And, you know the sad thing? I wasn´t aware of it until our Sixth year, when I was with Lavander. My supposed loving family decided to not include me because I was a fool and useless boy that didn't had talent for anything. Could you believe it?"

I could, if I have to be honest with myself, but I didn't, couldn't, voice my thoughts. I wondered when I would lose consciousness.

"All was accounted for, all except the roll of Hermione Granger. This was the only difficulty that Dumbledore had to face. But he was prepared. It seems that, from the start, when you were with Hermione the potions and compulsion in your system was neutralized, and something similar happened to her later on. My unknowingly participation during that first Halloween in Hogwarts was to drive an edge between you tow, to end any potential bond that you may had. As you can recall, it backfired it. Still, our dear Headmaster wasn't deterred. Noticing Hermione's potential, he then modified the original plan to include her and use her at his convenience."

"In our third year it was obvious that you had become immune to the potions, and Hermione was building resistance too, so we changed tactics under the suggestion of the twins and Snape. Instead of using love potions, we start to use compulsion charms, memory modifications and loyalty potion, and other potions that I don't remember, to teach your bodies to behave in the way that they wanted."

"That's how I discovered it, but play ignorance and started to plan my moves. It was like chest, you know, to gain the upper hand in planning ahead your rival. I bound my time, and my wait bear fruits, because something happened that they didn´t foresaw: Dumbledore's death."

"You know the rest, Harry. You, and Hermione, were puppets under the Wizarding Society schemes, to their benefit. And I was the only one aware of it. You and Hermione were so programmed that, if I would have told you about it, you would have accused me of being a dark wizard and turned me in."

It wasn't true, Ron, I would have never betrayed you, neither Hermione would have. You got it all wrong, even from the beginning.

"I needed then, and need now, to change this rotten society. To make it better, to clean the filth that polluted our society, and I'm not speaking about muggleborns, Harry; I know that you see it my way. So, I decided t correct the mistake that Dumbledore failed to: I took Hermione out of the picture. I expected that, even under the potions and compulsion, you still felt strongly for her, and my bet paid off. Then I had an excused to put you down, the only obstacle to gain the popularity and power necessary to my plans to work. You, as planned, went ballistic after Hermione disappearance, and, when you escape, I needed to put down all your supporters so the public turned against you also."

"And me, the tragic hero, the sad remnant of the Golden Trio, had to clean the stain that your infamy and madness had caused." On said dramatically with a humorless chuckle. "History was waiting for me to write on its pages... and so I did."

(End of flashback)

* * *

"Luna barely escaped on time, using her infamous loony side as her advantage, and started to gain support to clean your name... She was labelled as an anarchist rebel for it." Said Wade, lost in thought. "I joined the Resistance a month after your imprisonment. The last thing I remembered was that our main base was under attack by the Aurors, and I stayed behind so Luna could escape. I think somebody rated us away."

"No Wade, you got it wrong. Ron always knew where you were. He just used the image you had as a Dark Group to his advantage while paying the politics in the Ministry and the Winzengamot. Ron told me about it, and how he was planning to eliminated you all know at once since you had outlived your usefulness." Shared Harry.

"He indeed played us all for fools." Said Hermione, shaken a bit. She had been quiet while Harry spoke. "We were just pieces in a chessboard at his disposal."

"He was, 'Mione; the bastard wasn't more than a rotten traitor." Harry said softly while rubbing gently her back, which earned him a small smile from her.

"That explains a lot of things," commented Wade, trying to keep the conversation in track, "but still doesn't explain our current situation."

"Well, after Ron finish his monologue, he finished me off rather quickly. When I woke up, I was in white grass field with Hermione at my side on the floor. We didn't last much there, but in the brief time we were, Luna appeared in front of us and explained our situation. We were in the Between Worlds, or as Luna called, one of the Astral Planes." Answered Harry.

"Luna told us that she was severely wounded during her escape and, with the time that she had left, she started a ritual of her own design to give us this... opportunity... She even was the one that gave us the Soul Crystal that she tied to you without your knowledge."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"After we talk with Luna, we just planned our rendezvous before waking up in these bodies this morning." Continued Hermione. "Harry, in our way to pick up Wade, you told me you were worried about what you discovered about this dimension's Harry."

"What do you mean, Hermione?" asked Wade

"When we waked up here, our souls absorbed the souls of our counterparts, and so we received their magical power, emotions and memories from them. It took us about two hours to go through all of them, but we may be emotional for a couple of days until the absorption stabilizes itself." Answered the girl.

"It's this Harry's background. Something doesn't seems right, but I can point out what it is." And so he told, what he had learnt from his counterpart.

* * *

His family, as far as he could remember had favoured his twin, Henry, the "Boy Who Lived". His parents never mistreat him per se, but they always devoted their attention and preferences to Henry, always taking his side. Remus and Sirius were not different. When his younger sister, Rose Lillian, was born, Harry hoped that maybe the little cute redhead would be able to free his family from the "Henry Charm". He was mistaken. At least partly.

Rose indeed was the centre of attention, even Henry's, for a while, since being the first Potter female in five generations. She was her mother's favourite. But sadly, Henry became the centre of attention and he shared it with the little one. It was a wise move on his part. Henry was not an idiot; he knew that, if he wanted to continue his… beneficial relationship… with his parents, he needed to give some of the spotlight to Rose. It worked.

As the years past, Rose also became a fanatic member of the "Henry Fan Club". He was her hero and she loved him deeply. Henry was feeding her with his attention, not because he cared, but because it was on his favour. So, the prick played his part of the perfect big brother. This just increase his popularity with his parents even more.

But why, then, Harry was not included in this? It was simple.

Harry Potter was a squib.

Normally, a magical child would produce some magical outburst, also called as "accidental magic", randomly after the tender age of 4. Henry started with only 1 year and a half. This cemented the idea to their parents that Henry was the "Chosen One" and that he one day would surpass the great Albus to-many-names-to-remember Dumbledore. Just thinking about "old whiskers", as Harry had dubbed him, made the young Potter scowl. The old man had made worse his family issues. As far as anyone could see, the old wizard hadn't done anything, but Harry just knew that he had something to do with his family's behaviour. He just didn't know what or how it was done.

When Rose turned three years old she also became magically active. Harry was 5 at the time and he had to show any magical signals yet. When he turned 6 the suspicions and fears turned true: the Potter's had a squib in their mist.

They decided to not to tell a soul aside of those trusted by the family, but that just was the beginning of his frosty lonely hell.

Harry did everything he could to gain his parents favour, but it was to not avail.

When he reached the age of 7, he had already read every book in the Potter library in hopes in finding a solution to his problems. Not even the Dark Arts section shed any light, no pun intended, on his research. So, he changed his approach. Harry immersed himself in non magical active subjects such as potions, arithmancy, runes, magical theory, spell crafting, wand and broom crafting, even ritual designing and the like. Harry discovery a very instinctual ability with potions understanding but runes and arithmancy were his true niches.

But this didn't mean anything for his parents. A couple of months ago, he ventured his chances in showing his mother one of his own runic concoctions. A little piece of paper with an interesting combination of runes arrays in a warding structure. The idea was creating a pocket dimension in the paper in a simple recreation of what Japanese, almost forgotten, Sealing Arts could achieve with their sealing scrolls. That same day Henry revealed that he had achieved somehow an animagus form. His parents forgot about Harry early accomplishment with the magical feat that their perfect son had done: a Fire Horse. And those, the fifth marauder, Rapidflame, was born.

That night between tears of despair and emotional pain, something inside Harry died. The demising light in his soul was extinguished and the growing darkness in his heart started to grow unopposed.

* * *

"And because of that this Harry was planning to escape home really, really soon. Because Henry's magical achievement, now the Potter believe for sure that, he not only the Chosen One, but is also the second coming of Albus Dumbledore." Finished Harry.

"But how he gained an animagus form? No matter how powerful you are, that just doesn't happen by accident." Wondered Wade.

"He explained that he discovered Prong's Journal in the library at home, and discovered how and why his parents and Sirius became animagi. He even said that he did it in secret as a surprise gift to Remus, as a birthday present, so he could join him during the full moon."

"I gathered that Remus was quite happy with that."

"You don't have an idea Hermione; he even started crying then and there saying that tit was the best birthday present that he ever had. Now the Lupin is fully converted to the Henry's Cause."

"Do you know why Henry is acting that way? Maybe he is under the influence of Voldemort's horrocrux in his scar? He had one, right?"

"Yeas, he had one, but I can't be sure if that is the case. But something tells me that it is for something very different."

"And what we do now?" asked Wade after a couple of minutes in thoughtful silence.

"Now, we plan!" said Hermione like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Wade," turning to him, "Luna told us that you knew about two plans that you had designed, and that you knew what they meant: **AVALON**.** SAGE**. Do any of those names mean something to you?

Wade's grin, that looked like it would split his face in half at any moment, didn't bring them any comfort.

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And that's it.

An anonymous reviewer commented how fragmented the first episode was, and how inconclusive, and that I needed to go back to the drawing board to do it again. I apologize if it was hard to follow or looked rushed, but it was planned in that way. I prefer to release titbits of information here and there as the plot unfolds itself. But I do see your point, and thus, this chapter, hopefully, will shed some light into the matter.

Thanks for your opinion, anonymous reviewer, and I hope that y continue reading his humble work of mine.

R&R


	3. Verse of Lies and Truths

**Chapter 3: Verse of Lies and Truths**

* * *

**Saturday 28th, July, 1990 A.C.**

(A few hours earlier, somewhere in Essex, England)

"_So, both SAGE and AVALON were plans that you brainstormed to take control of the british wizarding world from the pureblood families?" asked Harry after hearing Wade's explanation about his solution to their problems. To tell the truth, he was awed by the sheer ingenuity of it._

"_Yeah. Our major problem is that almost everything is in control of the Original Thirteen Houses and thus, we need to separate the State from them. If we do it directly, we will fail for sure, but their are other means." Concluded Wade._

"_But which one we will use? We cannot use both this early in time, but we may try later." Commented Hermione._

"_I think that it will depend on Harry." Both kids looked at Wade waiting for an explanation. It unnerved him how well those two were in sync. "If Harry receives his acceptance letter from Hogwarts, I think we should go with AVALON; if not, SAGE is our best bet."_

"_So, are we going to wait until then?" Asked Hermione, more to herself that to the other two._

"_I suggest that you both train to regain perfect control over your magic and physical abilities. Does any of you know where to get the __**Book of Leviathan(1)**__, __**Book of M(2)**__ or the __**Rune Epitaph(3)**__?"_

"_Aren't those Lost Grimoires?" Said Hermione, recognizing the famous names from her personal research._

"_Indeed. I will be picking Grimoires where Luna discovered them back in our dimension; hopefully I will find then in the same places. I mentioned those three because they have rituals to enhance and modify the human body beyond human levels. I personally recommend the Book of M, but the Rune Epitaph's rituals are easy to do. The Book of Leviathan's rituals are kind of... bloody." Explained Wade. "Luna mentioned that you or Harry may have an idea where those were, since we couldn't find a clue of them."_

"_I may know where the Rune Epitaph is, and, if we are lucky, I may find the 15 tomes of Vandergraph's Collection__**(4) **__too." said Harry, while thinking for a moment, an idea coming to mind._

_Wade whistled in appreciation. "Wow, the whole Vandergraph's Collection. Harry, my friend, I think both Snape and Dumbledore would had sell their own mothers to have a go with those tomes."_

_Hermione only looked at him with stars in her eyes. "Harry, do you know how much I love you right?" Said the girl in sultry voice that was so wrong coming from such a little, young and cute little girl. Harry started sweating like a turkey in thanksgiving day._

"_Of course 'Mione, I love you too. As soon as I find them, I will contact you so we can... study them..." said Harry nervously. Hermione's more relaxed smile told him that he had dodged a particularly dangerous bullet. Still, why he felt that he had unleashed a scary monster?_

_Wade, witnessing the exchange, laughed... hard. After calming, Wade continued. "Yeah, that would be great. If you combine the rituals with the potions in Vandergraph's Tomes you will get better results."_

"_And what you will do?"_

"_Well, we need funds to get our plan working, and we only have a little more than a year. SO, I will get money to invest in different companies in the muggle world based on our knowledge of the coming events, though some of them may play out differently."_

"_You still will need enough money to invest." said Hermione, pointing the obvious._

"_True, but I have a plan." Paused Wade, before revealing, to him at least, a cunning plan to get money. "I always wanted to go to Las Vegas."_

(Back to the present. Godric's Hollow, West Coast, England)

When Harry returned to Potter's Cottage in Godric's Hollow, it was a couple of hours past the dusk. Silently, he entered into the house, noticing that it was quiet, way to quiet. Now in full alert, the raven haired boy walked cautiously around the house, trying to find something out of place. He knew that the wards around the house, and he could felt that they were still active, would prevent almost anything or anyone with bad intentions to get in it, but old habits die hard.

POP!

The unique sound of a house elf apparition startled him from behind, not because it surprised him, but because he was about to attack him, and he wasn't about to just stun the responsible.

"Jibbsy welcomes back Master Harry. Does Master want supper ready on the table?" asked the elf as happy as any elf that he had come across.

"I'll like that Jibbsy, one question though: where are mother and father, and Rose and Henry?"

"Oh, masters went to visit the Weasley's Family. They search for Master Harry to go with them, but Mugo informed them that you were at town, so they went without Master Harry." Explained Jibbsy. Mugo was another of the house elves in charge of the house.

"Thanks Jibbsy. I will go up and take a shower first and then I will come down to eat."

Nodding excitedly, the elf popped away to do whatever he could to please his master.

* * *

At 11 minutes to midnight, Lady Lily Potter nee Evans entered the Potter Library that they had in their house to have some _light_ reading before going to bed. It had been a lovely and eventful day. They and enjoyed themselves with the Weasley Family, it had been a while since they had gotten all together to enjoy themselves. Chuckling softly, the redhead remembered how Ginevra, Molly's youngest and only daughter, had eyes only for Henry. She swore that at some point, when Henry had caught her staring at him, her face was as read as her hair, and the twins teasing her to no end didn't help matters. But it also seemed that Henry wasn't to advert to young redhead… admiration.

Lily sighed. One of the consequence of Henry' stun of being an animagi was, aside to had his core strengthened and gain a fire affinity, that his body was hitting puberty earlier than normal.

"_WAY too early I must say. I'm too young of a mother to be worrying about give my 10 years old son _The Talk._ This reminds me, James and I need to give it to him soon."_

After finding the Rune Compendium that she was looking for, Lily went to her favourite couch to read about the Aramaic Runic Alphabet that Charlemagne's Archmage was studying when he was alive and had made some interesting theories out of them. One may ask, why does Lily Potter, Charm and Potions Mistress, had been hitting hard on the Runes Field of Study? Does she plan to gain another Mastery?

The thought had crossed her mind at some point, and she was convinced that, in the future, she may apply to get one, but her reasons, aside from her pleasure in learning something new, was more practical, and it had to do with her dear friend, Remus Lupin.

Aside from Remus, only James knew that she worked undercover for the Department of Mysteries, and neither James nor Sirius knew that Remus worked with her. It was not like they wanted to keep secrets from their friends, but it was out of necessity and they DID work for the department of MISTERIES. What the public didn't know about the said department, not that it was known too much of it, was that they were two type of Unspeakable.

One was the classical Unspeakable that people could see at random times, their obscure robs and faceless attires being the icon for the Department. This were the ones in charge of the investigations and experiments within the department, and, for official records, it was the only kind of job that they did **(5)**. They were called **INDEX.**

But within the department was another batch of employees. A group that the Ministry of Magic wasn't aware of. They were unrecognizable; their silence being different than the Indexes'. They were agents that went on mission, mostly infiltration, spy and sabotage missions. They were the shadow of their government, a ghost that could not be seen. They were called **UNDERSHAFT**. The Undershaft agent could be considered like a mix of Interpol and James Bond-like-spies.

Lily Potter was a Index, and Remus Lupin was an Undershaft Agent, or a U-agent; they were partners.

The Index provided information and technical support for the U-agent, while the U-agent was in the field, under covering information that the Index was in charge of analyzing or providing with intelligence's support.

Lily had been a U-agent until 1986, when a mission that she was part of went horribly wrong. She hadn't been the one to blame, at least not totally, but she made a mistake, and that mistake came to a great cost later. She decided to leave the field after that and took vacations to dedicated time to her family. Her Index at the time resigned and she never saw her again. But in 1988, two years after her leave, the Department called her back to activity. It seemed that the information that she collected during her last mission was connected to something big.

She came back and was surprised to know that her new partner would be Remus.

And now, Remus had been outside Britain for the last 11 months, in an infiltration mission in Russia, following the lead of the case that they were in charge of.

Lily's thoughts were cut short when she discovered, to her surprise, that the couch was already occupied, by one of her sons at that. Lily knew that Henry, to her disappointment, wasn't the studious type, even when he was a magical genius on his own, and thus didn't enjoy too much the pursuing of knowledge, like Little Rose and herself. No, Henry was way too much like her dear James, a prankster at heart that only showed scholar attitude to everything and anything related to pranks or other means of entertainment.

The sleeping boy wasn't other than Harry, her other son. A pang of remorse stung her heart for a second. While her work, if important and demandable at times, was quite flexible, her free time was used to train Henry in the magical arts, and whatever that was left was taken by Rose. She knew that she had been neglecting him in favour of his brother and sister, and, even if she wanted to deny it, she knew that it was because Harry was a squib.

In an attempt to distract herself, Lily read the title of the book that Harry had been reading that was now opened on his lap.

_**Blair's Personal Potion Repertoire**_

**by Blair Jenkins**

The redhead recognised the book as one of American origin. It was a compendium of simple potions that were useful in a household environment. It was released during her sixth year in Hogwarts, and she had memorized during her first try. It was simple and really practical for any housewife to know. Sadly, because it was from an American potion mistress, she could count in one hand the people that had read it, let alone used it. Sometimes she wondered how such a bigoted and backward society as hers had survived for so long.

The clock on the wall informed her that it was midnight already, and thus, she focused on the situation at hand (no pun intended) and the book that she needed to read to continue on her research. "_I'll make up to you, Harry, when I have the time to._" She decided, with all the intention of fulfilling her unspeakable promise.

"Jibbsy!" she hissed in a murmur, in which the elf showed up immediately.

"What can Jibbsy do for his Lady?" asked the elf with eagerness.

"Jibbsy, take Harry up to his bed and tuck him in."

"Immediately, my Lady." And like that, both Harry and Jibbsy disappeared with a low `POP'.

"_Now, where was I?_" Lily opened the book she had chosen before losing herself in it's words.

* * *

When Jibbsy disappeared, Harry opened his eyes. He had been fully awake all the time, and only pretended to sleep when he sensed the Potter´s arriving through the Flu Network. To tell the truth, Harry was shocked. He had been scanning, passively, Lily´s mind as soon as she stepped into the library; and old habit from his past life. For some reason her mental shields were down, and Harry could count himself lucky that she hadn't picked up what he was doing or he would have been toast. But to think that is mother was some sort of secret agent, with Remus as her companion nonetheless. It was humbling and unnerving at the same time.

Deciding to analyze this new piece of the puzzle at another time, Harry extended his hand, separating his fingers in different directions. A little silvered mist appeared above his index finger before taking the shape of a silver butterfly. He had just cast wandlessly, and silently, an _Expecto Patronum. _But this one wasn't a stag, like it normally was, why? The answer is simple: during his underground activities, he had discovered a method to give different shapes to his patronuses with the simple reason to go undercover under an alias that could use different patronuses as 'proof' of their identity.

Of course, he had created a communication system using said spell as a code of sort. Butterflies were the messengers and he hoped that Hermione didn't freak out receiving an unknown patronus.

Concentrating on the message that he wanted to deliver, Harry closed his eyes for a moment before thrusting his hand forward, prompting the silvered butterfly to take fly through the darkest of the night.

* * *

Hermione couldn't keep her eyes shut. So many things were learnt today that her brain was in overdry. It was an old habit of hers, over analyzing each bit of information that she learnt through the day before adding it to her overall plans and brainstorming the causes and effects of each possible scenario that she could think of. Lesser human beings would think of her brain power like something frightening and unnatural. To hermione, it was only a way to past time until Morpheus welcome into his domains.

This night though, Hermione was interrupted by a silver butterfly that _phase through _her _closed _window. It took less than a second to identify the unnatural insect as a patronus, thought she was struggling to come with ideas of the why, who and how had sent it to her.

The silver butterfly landed on her open palm and all Hermione's questions were answered when she heard Harry's voice in her head.

"_Mione, it is me. Don't worry, I discovered a way to change Prongs into a more springfull design. I'll show you the photos later. I found them, thanks to gramps. Wanna meet tomorrow at the usual place?"_

When the message was over the butterfly dissolved into a silvered mist and then into nothingness. Hermione noted that, ever since the insect entered her bedroom, she felt more cheerful and happy. She knew that this wasn't a fake, and thus, if she had understood the whole message, tomorrow held a promise of knew unlearnt knowledge at her disposal.

* * *

**Wednesday 28th, November, 1990 A.C.**

(Somewhere in the passages system under The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia)

A old looking man, somewhere his 50's, in a green General Suit, with a green and black Official hat with a five prong star on its front on hi sandy blond hair, stepped out of the General Pavev Grachev**(6)** Office with a sealed folder under his left arm. The man walked as any officer in the russian army would walk: straight posture, facing forward and at a steady pace. Turning left and right through the maze of tunnels, and being received with a formal salute from anybody that he stumbled across, the man never broke his pace until he entered into a small room that, after turning on an old light bulb, a small deposit of cleaning tools was reveal. The general, taking out a piece of wood, more like a stig, started making small movements before a soft yellow flash surrounded the room for a second. With a satisfied grunt, the old man took a small ball from his pocket of a dark chromed colour that shined for a second.

Waiting for a minute or two, the mas was sure that nobody was walking through that section at the moment, he tapped the ball in his palm with the wood stick, pressing it for a whole minute. In the blink of an eye, the man was gone.

It would take almost two weeks to General Pavev Grachev to notice the missing documents from his office.

* * *

(Somewhere in Moscow, seven blocks at the south of the Kremlin, Russia)

The old man in general outfit appeared in the middle of an empty apartment in the second floor of a residential building. Verifying that the folder that he had stolen was with still in his grasp, the old man took a look at his pocket watch.

"Just in time." Murmured the man in russian.

A second later, the face of the man started to ripple in an unnatural way, in what looked like a uncomfortable, if not painful, metamorphosis process. Similar ripples could be seeing through the whole body of the old man that, after 35 seconds of silent agony, the visage of a younger ,if exhausted man, with a pale face with premature lines, and light brown hair that, with each book, seemed to become more and more grey. He sported a thin moustache and he has scars cutting across his face. The man was Remus Lupin, a wizard and a werewolf, and, secretly, a U-agent working for the British Department of Mysteries.

He had been under the polyjuice potion for the last 36 hours just to get a chance to infiltrate his objective HQ with the highest rate of success without being caught. Changing back into more, less outstanding clothes, Remus took another sip of another flank with another batch of polyjuice potion, this time changing into a non descriptive common russian guy before getting out the apartment with a snow coat and a small black pack. The pack was just for show, since his essentials were in a hidden pocket in his coat, under magical protection.

Walking as normally as possible, Remus was attentive of his surroundings and thus, he hear the radio broadcast from RIA Novosti **(7) ** with Oleg Poptsov as the news chairperson:

"_And in the international environment, in the United Kingdom, __Margaret Thatcher, who had been facing administrations problems during the last year as Prime Minister, had publicly resigned this morning. Stepping on her behalf, the Minister of Economy, John Major, had been elected as the new Prime Minister. The British Cabinet Representative had said..." _**(8)**

Remus was quite surprise of what he had just heard. Ever since the fall of the Iron Wall and the subsequent dissolvement of the URSS almost a year ago, the world seemed to stop making sense any more. Earlier, in february, Nelson Mandela had been released from his 27 year imprisonment**(9)**. Not only that, but Remus himself had been in Iraq during July, picking up intel and equipment that would be necessary in the next phase of the mission that lead him to Russia. He had exit Iraq between the 1st and 2nd of August, in a undercovered truck that gave him a ride to Kuwait, where he took an international portkey. He was lucky, as he learnt later that, 20 minutes after his departure from the Middle East, the Iraq's army, with a 100,000 men force, invaded Kuwait in a blitzkrieg attack, taking over in little more than 3 hours **(10)**, and effectively sealing, both mundane and magic wise, both countries.

And now, his homeland had a new government body, and it worried him. John Major's name figured as an involved person in the group that he was trying to track. It seemed that it was time to go back home, to go back to his dear pack.

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And cut. Sorry for the lateness of the update, but real life had its own sense of duty and humour.

I will take my time writing the next chapter because I had entered the period for my midterm exams, and thus, most of my time would be hijacked by my studies. About some points during the chapter:

**1**. The Book of Leviathan, also known as the Black Bible, it is known as a Dark Magic Text rumoured being authored by Satan himself. It is a compendium of Demonic Magic.

**2**. Book of M is the mystical book that is referenced in the _Fama Fraternitatis_, where Christian Rosenkreutz receives the _Book M_ from sages in the East, which supposedly contained the secrets of the universe, and which he subsequently translated into Latin.

**3**. Fragment of the Rune Epitaph; a grimoire fragment derived from special runes from Alaska.

**4.** A 15 tomes collection of potions. Only the first 5 tomes are known, while the rest are believed to be lost. It is said that a Master in Potions will only required to memoried the first 4 volumes to gain a Mastery.

**5**. This idea of secret agents come from another fanfic in this site called 'The Unbreakable Vow'. I couldn't find it, so I think that it had been taken down.

**6.** General Pavel Grachev, the first Russian Minister of Defence (1992–96), broadly advertised reforms, yet wished to preserve the old Soviet-style Army, with large numbers of low-strength formations and continued mass conscription.

**7.** One of the news agency at the time. Oleg Poptsov was one of the main chairperson until 1996.

**8.** This actually happened. Thatcher was the first woman as a Prime Minister and was the person with the longest administration in that position during the 20th century. She was known with the moniker of "The Iron Maiden" because her fiery opposition against the URSS. Because her hardhead style of not listening to the opinion of her own people in the Cabinet that lead the the resignation of her Vice Ministry, Thatcher resigned, nominating John Major as her successor.

**9.** Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner that was in jail because his activism in favour of the black people at the south of africa. He later was elected as a president in 1994.

**10.** This marked the beginning of the **Persian Gulf War**.


	4. Verse of Inconsistencies

**AN: **Happy XMAS!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Verse of Inconsistencies**

* * *

**Thursday 25th, July, 1991, A.D.**

(Section 4, Department of Mysteries, British Magical Ministry, England)

"Remus, please tell me that the _Administrator_ didn't assigned you to oversee the **START Event (1)** next week. It was bad enough that you couldn't make it for Christmas, but if you don't show up in the twins birthday, they will be mad at you, especially Henry." Said I- agent Smithson, A.K.A. Lily Potter, to her companion U-agent Johansson, A.K.A. Remus Lupin. She was sipping her chamomile flower tea in a attend to relax after a rough morning.

"Don't worry, that mission was passed to agents Smith and Jones." Said Remus defensively, before he sit down in front his redhead friend after coming back from the _Administrator _Office, the Head of the Department of Mysteries, and the only man that knew the true identities of Unspeakables of both sides in the Department. "By the way, did the twins received their letters already?"

"They were supposed to arrive on Monday, but the Headmaster sent a message through Fawkes telling us that he will bring us the letter tomorrow at dinner's time."

"The letter? It means that Harry then…"

"Yeah, it is now confirmed that he wasn't accepted by Hogwarts and that he is an squib, instead of a _late bloomer_ like he was hoping for." The worry and sadness was obvious in Lily's voice, but Remus, thanks to his… fluffy side, detected something else.

"_Lily, why you always feel apprehension and regret each time the subject comes up? What it is bothering you? Why you can not tell me?"_ Though Remus, not for the first time, while he saw Lily sipping her tea absentmindedly, lost in thought. "Don't worry, he may fell down at first, but he will back on his feet in no time."

"Do you think so?"

"I know so, he is the son of _Prongs_ and _Thunderbolt _afterall."

* * *

**Friday 26th, July, 1991, A.D.**

(Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow, England)

10 minutes to 8:00 pm exactly, Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, arrived into the Potter's house through the Flu Network. Dusting himself of the ashes from this purple robe with twinkling stars and form his long grey beard, the Headmaster was greeted by James Potter himself, who seemed to be waiting for him.

"Good evening Professor Dumbledore, you arrive just in time. Lilly herself had cook for us today and she is excitedly waiting for you."

"Lily cooked? It's been awhile since I had tasted her delightful blueberry pie with honey-water and butterbeer batter."

"Yeah, to tell the truth, I think she is for other intellectual discussion with you; she had been studying advanced runes recently."

"Indeed, I will looking forward to it. Should we join the rest?"

"I'll take the lead."

Dinner was a pleasant affair. Jokes had been going to and fro alongside funny anecdotes, new and old. Henry was bouncing in excitement because he had guess why the mythical Albus Dumbledore was in person tonight. While the legendary wizard had come and go a few times in the past, sometimes spending some time and giving suggestion to his personal training, the old man was always busy thanks to his many responsibilities. But Henry was not a fool, he knew that this was the week when almost every kid on their generation would receive The Letter.

_Padfoot_ was in a date with his fiancée and auror partner, Amelia Bones, while _Mooney_ was out the city. At his side, his little sister Rose was as excited was he was. It will sadden him to part from her, but going to Hogwarts was his childhood dream, like all the kids in Britain, and she would join him eventually. He wanted to continue the Marauders' Legacy, but, above all, he wanted to learn and master the magical knowledge that the ancient fortress of learning had to offer.

Thinking about learning, the blue eyed hero looked at his green eyed twin. He saw him far from everybody else, next to the fireplace, like usual, reading a book, like usual. Thinking about his twin brought a frown to his face. He couldn't explain it, but something had been off in his brother for awhile now. Call it a twin's intuition if you may, but he felt uneasy when he was around him. As far as he could remember, Harry had always been resentful and jealous of his magical skills. He admitted that he had been capitalizing the time of their parents with his training, but Harry didn't need to worry about a prophecy to kill a seemly immortal Dark Lord over his head, so Henry feel justified on that one.

In his opinion, his brother should have been helping him to be ready when the time comes, even if he didn't knew it, like Rose, but no, he prefered to act as the spoiled brat that he was acting cold and angry all the time at him, and the rest of the family. That is until a few months back. Ever since last August, his green eyed twin had been acting... odd. He had been avoiding the family as a whole, spending most of his time in the library reading about magic related subjects, like potions and runes, that didn't need wand use. Maybe in an attend to enter Hogwarts even if he was a squib? A doable if naïve plan. Many had tried that method before, but had failed miserably. He could try all he wanted, but he never was going to reach his or Rose's level, not matter how hard he tried. Why could not see that?

But that was part of his displeasure with his brother. He didn't have proof, but Henry could swear that he had seen Harry hissing, _hissing!_, to something in the garden some years ago. Henry suspected that his shy brother was a parselmouth, and thus, The Dark had to be in him. If his suspicions were proven true it was up to him to defend his family from the evil forces that were outside and inside their peaceful world. Yeah, he would watch his brother as much as he could and, when he tip off his hand, he would strike, cutting the snake's head before any harm could reach his love ones. It didn't matter that said harm would come from his brother the squib.

* * *

"_... Cerberus's nails or fangs had been rather useful in potions that are used as counter poison agents and in rituals concerning poison and lethal maladies rituals. It is believed that, since the Cerberus is a magical creature that is resistant to almost any Death Magic, including potions and rituals with killing intent, its parts create a shielding resonance against..."_

While Harry was reading a potion essay about rare ingredients and some interesting theories behind them, he was aware that he had been discreetly watched by Henry, Lily and the Headmaster himself. Ever since Hermione and he had go through the rituals suggested by the Rune Epitaph Grimoire, and after they had also go through the necessary potions that they had discovered in Vandergraph's collection, his magic and magical skills had been back to him. His Deep Perception, a sensor skill that he had created and perfected, had been active the whole time, had informed him about almost anything around him.

He could kind of understand why Henry was breathing down his neck, given their past history full of poetic antagonist, but why his mom and the Headmaster, both seemly engaged in a deep scholar conversation about random magical topics, were watching him also? He knew that he wasn't going to Hogwarts, he overheard Lily and James talking a couple of days prior, so, what's the mystery?

"Ok, attention please," started James dramatically, standing up like he was in a podium in front of a vast audience. Lily rolled her eyes playfully at her husband's antics, ", our dear Headmaster had things to announce to us."

Immediately Henry and Rose ready themselves in their chairs, likewise, Lily stood up next to James while the Headmaster stood up in a place that everybody could see him.

Harry, not feeling in the mood, decided to ignore them and continued reading his book, even though he was aware enough to know that his father was looking at him, more like glaring, in a unpleased way, while Lily shook his head disapprovingly and Henry and Rose were frowning at him.

"Harry, if you may..." trailed of James, addressing his obviously rude behavior.

With a dramatic sigh, Harry closed the book, stood up, and walked his way out the room.

"Harry, dear, where are you going?" asked Lily.

"To the library. We know that the Headmaster is here to bring Henry's letter, so you don't need me for it." He continued his path to his new sanctuary, not caring how of a jerk he was acting now.

"Actually, Mr. Potter, this does concern you. It is true that I bring here your brother's acceptance letter," "YEAH!" " but something happened this afternoon and I'm still trying to understand it."

"What do you mean Professor?" asked James, as confused as he looked. Lily wasn't far behind.

Giving the old looking letter in parchment paper to Henry, the Headmaster approached Harry, who was looking at him with no idea of what was happening. "Congratulations Harry," extending, to the disbelief of the presents, a similar looking letter, " you are now the first squib to ever be accepted by Hogwarts."

Harry, without taking the letter, stood there, rooted to the floor dumbfounded. "How?" asked Harry. His voice had this feel that it was breaking, weavering in front something that should not exist. "You told me yourself once, _squibs cannot be approved by Hogwarts!_"

"And yet, you were, Harry. It is a nice feeling to know that, even at my age, mistakes can occur. Today I had learn something new; it is a joy that I had forgotten with the passage of time." Said Dumbledore in grandfatherly way with a wise tone and a poet's contemplation.

Harry saw the rest of his family for the first time that evening. Both Lily and James were stunned, truly at lost of what to think, while Rose was confused and Henry looked... betrayed? And Dumbledore... he was looking at him curiously.

"_This will be troublesome... very, very troublesome." _

"Harry, you will take all the normal classes that don't require wandwork, like Potions, Herbology and Astronomy. You will take the elective classes that the third years need to take, like Arithmancy, Runes and Care of Magical Creatures as well. Divination and Muggle Studies clash in the schedule, so you will have to choose one. I must admit that I'm excited about this, how about you?" In some twisted way, the Headmaster sounded more like a overcharged child in Christmas than a legendary wizard.

"_It is true that we have considered me being accepted by Hogwarts as a possibility, it doesn't mean that it will be the best of outcomes. I need to contact 'Mione, _Clayman _and Wade as soon as possible." _

* * *

"... Harry going to Hogwarts... we never plan for that to happen." Said the wary voice of James Potter to his wife that sat in their bed with a meditative frown on her face.

Harry could not see this, of course, since he was eavesdropping their conversation , like he had been doing every night. Prof. Dumbledore had been gone for hours, and it was bedtime for the inhabitants of the Potter Cottage. The spell that he was using, was one created by the Weasley Twins during the war, one that was practically undetectable.

"What should we do? I'm worry how he will be treated in Hogwarts."

"I don't think that will be a problem. He'll probably end in Gryffindor, like us."

"Or in Ravenclaw most likely. And even if he does end with the lions, it doesn't mean that he will not be bullied; you how much of elitist most of pureblood families, light or not, can be."

"You know, I think that you are..." His voice was more subdued, more... sensual.

Whatever James was about to say to his wife, Harry couldn't hear it because somebody was entering his room, and he knew who was the intruder.

* * *

Henry felt uneasy. All his life he knew that he was special, and contacting randomly other magical childrens from time to time, had reaffirmed that belief. His magic had awakened earlier than usual, and his control over it was unnatural. He was The Chosen One. He was The Hero, The Savior of wizardkind.

Then, why somebody as special as him had to share the Castle of Knowledge with someone as useless as his squib brother? Do his magical skills count for nothing? Is he at the same level as the rest of the folk? NO! He refused to believe that! His brother was at fault, not him! Harry had done something, anything, to change things from their natural course. But how?! He is an squ..ib... His parselmouth ability! Mom told us once, that many magical languages had especial properties! His parselmagic is a rare and ancient gift, it is powerful, if Salazar Slytherin's stories are to be believed, and... it is dark.

With that in mind, Henry stormed in his twin's room, just to find him sitting straight on his bed and his legs crossed; his hands were in a position that he didn't recognize. Was this part of a dark ritual of sort?

"What do you want Henry? I'm not in the mood right now." Said Harry, opening his eyes.

"What are you doing?" for some reason, his voice was shaky, like he was nervous. But that has the be the stupidest idea ever: Henry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, is not afraid of anything.

"What it looks like: meditating."

"Just that? Why?" _"I also meditate a lot since it is the basis for my Occlumency training, but why he is...?" _"That is useless."

"Is that all that you want to say? What do you want?" Harry was looking at him with his piercing jaded eyes. It unnerved Henry to no end.

"How?"

"How what?"

"How are you able to enter Hogwarts as well. What did you do?"

"Me? I did nothing." Said Harry plainly. "Didn't you hear Dumbledore as well? Hogwarts is the one that automatically send the letters to the students that are able to attend; the Staff isn't part of the process."

"I don't know how, but I'm sure that you did something... and it was something dark." Said Henry pointing him with his index finger.

Harry stare at him impassively for a second. Then, all a sudden, he stood up and jumped in front of him. With reflexes that weren't normal, Harry grabbed him by his arms and threw him on the floor, and then put his barefoot on his neck. Henry was still, wide eyed and stunned of what had happened in less of a second.

"You are pathetic, you know?" Started Harry, staring down at his speechless brother. "Are you so self-centered that you think that the world revolts around you?" Another pause. "Prove it! Prove that I, somehow influenced a magical castle of a little more than twelve hundred years of antiquity and forced it to let me attend the magical courses that it provides!"

Henry couldn't answer. The shock had numb his body.

"Silence is your answer then. How... disappointing."

And then, for a second, Henry stared directly into Harry's emerald eyes. It may have been the poor illumination of the room, but he could swear that his eyes were... slitted...as a snake.

And Henry's world became black.

* * *

The next morning, Henry woke up on his bed, still with his clothes on. He felt nauseous for some reason, and his head hurt. It was a half an hour later that he noticed that he didn't remember what he did after he came back to his room after the Headmaster's departure or when he had fallen asleep.

* * *

**Friday 26th, July, 1991, A.D.**

(Somewhere in Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

The Green Ebony Rose was shoemaker factory that was founded in 1897 by a squib that had inherited a small fortune and had move to the canadian territory in a journey to escape the bigotry of the Old World in new lands and in the search of fortunes. It was good for a time, but after the Great Depression and WW I & II nothing was left. A descendant, embarrassed by his own failure to maintain the family business, hid the building under an odd combination of a Fidelius Charm and a blood ritual based ward called Nosferium Charm. The effects are unknown, but after little more than 50 decades later, the charms are strong and the building is non-existent for the rest world.

The old grounds for the building are still intact and currently are vastly ignore by the rest of the population, magical and not magical. The No.6 of Marquis of Lome SE (at the southwest of Sunvista Way SE and next to Sun Valley Boulevard) is the current direction of said building, though is just empty terrain in the charts.

Wade D. Wonderweiss, self-proclaimed _Mad Scientist_, was giggling in crazed happiness for his acquisition. This was one of the safest HQ for the Resistance in his original timeline, and he was pleased to note that the its defenses were stronger in this dimension than in the last one. The how he had obtained such convenient facilities was a story on itself, but suffice to say that it was... troublesome.

When had purchase it, the building was in ruins, despite its security, and was in need of a lot of repairs. Now though, it was in shape to become his personal lab. It was full of equipment and other miscellaneous things in need for later. Oh, the unlimited science that he would be able to do here!

Suddenly, a silver shiny butterfly, or a Patronus Butterfly, phased through the highly warded walls like they were a mere illusion and landed on his extended left palm.

"_I have been accepted. Tell _Clayman_ to speed up his schedule. Code: AVALON is now implemented."_

"At last, now that we can start moving I can start using my new toys. I'm Dr. Wonderweiss, master of the craziest science ever. And for our first project, it seems that a visit to the Longbottom Family is in due."

**AN:**

And, what do you think? Sorry for the delay, one thing after another got on the way, but now I'm kind of good^^.

**(1) ****START (for STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) **was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994. The treaty barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 percent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence.

R&R


	5. Verse of Beyond: The first stone

**AN: **Happy New Year!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Verse of Beyond: The first stone.**

* * *

**Friday 30th, August, 1991 A.D.**

(St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, London, England)

The Fourth Floor: Spell Damage, was, maybe, one of the most depressing floors in St. Mungo. It was not the staff's fault, actually they did everything they could so the patients feel as most comfortable as possible, but said residents weren't there exactly for sightseeing.

Spell damage was, by far, one of the most tricky, conditions to heal by magical or muggle means. Most of them were caused by spells gone wrong that ended in unforeseen consequences. And in this floor, the Long-term resident Ward was running.

Those without cure, with patients with decades as residents without hope of turning better were located in this ward. Some of them, even spend the rest of their lives there.

It was 8:00 in the morning, and, a patient in particular, had a visit.

One was a man, his hair was dark and curly; his glare was hard, and yet, only love and tenderness were shown at the moment for the bedridden woman in front of him, and his son that was at his side.

This man was Frank Longbottom, Head of the DMLE in the British Magical Ministry, and his son was Neville Longbottom. The poor woman in the bed was the man's wife, Alice Longbottom, who had been a resident in the ward for the last 11 years.

A couple of days after the fall of He-Who- Must- Not- Be- Named, Barty Crouch Jr., Bellatrix, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, somehow bypassed the Fidelius Charm that was protecting their home and attacked them. They stunned him, before casting the Cruciatus Curse, the four of them, on his wife in front of him until her mind was shattered beyond repair. He too, would have suffer the same fate if it hadn't been for Lily and James Potter, alongside Sirius Black and Remus Lupin who had came to their rescue.

Later they discovered that their secret keeper, his mother, Augusta Longbottom, was tortured into insanity as well before getting killed afterwards by the same Death Eater foursome that attacked his house.

Oh, how much fury he felt, fury and hate, towards the bastards that destroyed the most precious thing to him. Afterwards he began his personal crusade against the Death Eater and any other lawbreaker. His motivation had caused him to be promoted to the Head of DMLE, being his second Amelia Bones, who had her personal vendetta against the Death Eaters as well.

And, it seems, that he passed his will to his dear son.

Neville was now next to his sick mother, with an opened letter in front of her face, even if Alice didn't reacted to anything in the range of her lond yard empty stare.

"See mom, I was accepted by Hogwarts. Now I can learn more about magic, like you and dad did, before entering the Auror force when I graduate." A paused. Neville didn't cry, for he had dried his tears long ago. "I will be the best student I can be, I will be one that you and that can be proud off. I will learn as much as I can so I can be prepare when I have to put the bad guys in their place when the chance shows itself."

Frank Longbottom didn't cry either. He could mourn over the lost opportunities with his family in a more private location, where no one could see his bleeding heart shedding tears.

She was in bed, unable to recognize him or their son. His mother had been killed after being tortured until she caved it and gave the torturers the secret to find his house. And life was so cruel that had forced him to move forward.

* * *

**Sunday 1st, September, 1991 A.D.**

(King Cross Station, London, England)

There was a normal looking girl, walking normally through a normal busy train station, in front of her normal looking parents. She was carrying a normal looking trunk behind her. She had brown bushy hair and honeyed chocolate eyes. She wasn't heart-stopping beautiful, but she had an average cuteness that could not be denied. She looked happy, for some reason, and her parents couldn't help themselves but smile at their daughter's excitement.

But there was a small detail about this: Hermione Granger was far from normal.

Daniel and Emma Granger were dentist with their own practice. They weren't exactly rich, but they weren't poor either. Both of them worked together since their youth, more as family project than shared enterprise. They had been blessed with a brilliant girl, who seemed to absorb all the knowledge around her like she was a sponge. Sadly, their daughter's brightest was also a cursed while interacting with others. Her intellect insulated her from her peers, and at some point, their little one stopped trying to connect with others and making friends. That's why they vowed to do what they could for her: provide everything that she wanted without spoiling her too much, and be for her as much as they could. No matter how much work they had, they always prioritized their time with their daughter.

Sadly, their little Hermione buried herself with books, and thus, her social skills only got worse. Emma in particular was at lost of what to do. She, when she got the news that she was about to be a mother of a beautiful baby girl, she started to dream about doing things that mother and daughter could do, like going to a beauty salon, or going shopping, or even talking about boys and the like. But reality was a lot more different from what she hoped for. She still loved her daughter, even if she couldn't share those moments like she did with her own mother. She was special after all.

So special.

They noticed the strange things that happened around Hermione from time to time. Of course, they were scared, but they fought to find a solution, or answers, or anything that could give them some peace of mind. They failed, discarding theory after theory.

"_... Maybe somethings were beautiful and special, because they could not be explained... "_ That's what they thought. They made then another vow: to stand alongside their daughter despite anything that may come their way.

And a year ago, suddenly, the oddities stopped. Not only that, but even their daughter started to act differently, even if she continued to act as Hermione normally would. Call it parent's intuition, but something had change.

For one, Hermione seemed to be at more easy with herself. She also put a lot more effort to pleased them and to spent a lot more time with them, doing things as a family instead of spending all her available time bunked in the library. She even started to talk about some girly topics with her mother, who was way too please to comply.

And Hermione stopped to hold back.

Was she more motivated? The Grangers didn't know, but in a little more of ten months, Hermione Jane Granger finish all her studies: Secondary and High School. The teachers were stunned, but after she took the level test and totally aced them, there wasn't any doubt that her daughter was a prodigy. She even got a 210 in her IQ test, one of the highest scores recorded through recent history. The amount of invitations sent by the Universities was humbling; even colleges from abroad were interested in her.

The Grangers were worried that she was burning herself out way too quickly, but they also wanted to help her as much as they could. Luckily, Hermione herself decided to stay free from any scholar compromises for at least a year. She wanted to travel a bit around the world.

And then, a little more than a month ago, the magical world entered their lives.

"Mom, dad, we're are here: between platforms 9 and 10."

"Are you sure that you need to walk _through_ the bricks?"

"So little faith! You shouldn't be doubting after coming this far daddy, not after witnessing the reality of magic."

"Still, is kind of difficult to accept that everything that we knew was _mistaken_."

"I wouldn't say mistaken, mom, but more like _incomplete_."

That was another thing that they had noticed in her daughter. Her way to manage people had improved.

"Okay, my little _tinkerbell_, give your big daddy a hug."

"And one for your mommy too, _pumking_."

After hugging them as much as she could, Hermione Granger took her trunk and walked through the column that divided platforms 9 and 10 like it was just an illusion. They tried to follow her, but said wall was as hard as it should be... like they already knew that it would happen.

Their little brilliant daughter stepped in a world that they couldn't follow. All they could do, was watch.

* * *

Hermione Granger was relief to see for the first time in a long time the Hogwarts Express. She knew that she would have been able to convince her parents to let her go to the magical institution, even if what they found about the british magical world through the books that they bought gave them a bad impression of it. She had been working on it since her dimensional travelling, which was one of the reasons for her to skip classes and be ready for the university any time she wanted. But the odds were in her favor.

Ever since John Major's election as Prime Minister, the british economy system had been becoming strained every day. Adding that to the full scale war in Kuwait with the _'Desert Storm Operation'_ at the beginning of the year and the START Treaty signing at the end of July, were not helping international and national matters. The URSS was falling into pieces. During the whole month of August many territories were declaring their independence; a day prior, the 31th of August, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan declared their independence from the Soviet Union, and tomorrow, the 2nd of September, USA announced the recognition of the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The airports were full with immigrants going out and in of the country, and the authorities were in high alert, even if Europe was in peaceful times.

These were some of the reasons why her parents decided to let her go: because of her safety.

Smiling to herself, Hermione Granger entered the the magical steam monster in search of adventure.

"_My Harry, at last we will together again."_

* * *

(Platform 9 ¾, somewhere in Scotland)

The platform 9 ¾ was like a hive full of activity. Magical families were watching their kids going for another year to the greatest school of magic in the british magical education system. Also, many scholars partook in the journey to go into the magic castle and continue with their personal researches using one of the most complete magical libraries in whole Europe. This witches and wizards that came from far distances, some of them from abroad, were the second source of income for the castle, but not many payed attention to them, since most of them only last a month or two in Hogwarts working in their projects.

Hermione didn't pay it any thought before boarding the train and started to look for compartment. Harry hadn't arrived yet, so it was up to her to find somewhere comfortable to be. After a couple of minutes, Hermione found one with a perfect view, one that was empty. Her trunk was shrunk in her pocket, so she wasn't worried about her luggage. In her other pocket, a shrunk copy of _Hogwarts: A story_ wa waiting for her. She took it out, and emerged herself in its pages. It was her favorite book afterall!

Soon, more and more students started to fill the train. That was when the door of her compartment was opened by a girl with long brunette hair that reached her mid back. She had a slender figure, and bluish eyes, and a easy going aura around her. Hermione recognised Tracy Davis in an instant, thanks to her prodigious memory.

"Oh, somebody is here already! Hey Daphne, what do you want to do? This one is also occupied." Said the girl moving a little bit before so another person could step in.

This time, Daphne Greengrass, the 'Ice Queen' (as Hermione remembered her), showed up.

"Most of the carriages are half way full at this point, and I don't want to go further. Tell me, Ms...?"

"Granger. Hermione Granger."

"Tell me, Ms. Granger, so you mind if me and my friends join you until we reach Hogwarts?" Her posture was firm, and it emanated authority without making her look like a spoiled brat. A cold presence was coming from her... cold and dangerous.

Hermione pondered her words for a second.

"I don't mind, though a friend of mine will join us later. Is that acceptable to you?"

"No problem. By the way, the girl next to me is Tracy Davis and I'm Daphne Greengrass. The boys behind us are..." she trailed off was he moved forward into the compartment a took a sat next to the window and in front Hermione. Tracy sat next to her friend.

"Blaise Zabini." Said a dark skinned boy sitting next to Tracy.

"Theodore Nott." A boy with glasses sat on her side, but in front of Zabini, letting enough space for somebody else to sit.

"Pleased to meet you all, Heiress Greengrass, Heirs Zabini and Nott, and Scion Davis."

Her formal greeting, surprised most of them, though Daphne had the same impassive expression on her face.

"I was under the impression that you were a muggleborn." said the future 'Ice Queen'.

"I'm indeed the first witch in my family. I just decided to learn as much as I could of this new fascinating world that has revealed itself to me."

"Call me by my last name. The Heiress title is just for formal events."

"You can call me Tracy!"

"Just Zabini."

"I don't care how you call me, but I don't mind either my last name or my name."

"Understood! Then feel free to call me Hermione!"

After that the group fell into comfortable silence, thought Tracy was looking bored. Theodore had fallen asleep at some point and Blaise was looking at Hermione from time to time. Hermione continued her reading like she was before the arrival of the future Slytherin. It was thirty minutes before the Express departure, so they still some time to kill.

After almost fifteen minutes, Tracy couldn't help herself.

"Hey Hermione, isn't that _Hogwarts: A story_? Why does it look different from the one that I bought in Diagon Alley?"

Indeed, the copy that Hermione had was different from the one that was being sell in the magical market during the last three months.

"Oh, that's because this is different version. This one was printed in 1722. Is the fourth edition." That raised eyebrows from the rest of her compartment companions... from all except Theodore Nott, who was dead to the world.

"Why do you one to read an obsolete version?" Asked Zabini, knowing that Daphne wanted to ask the same thing.

"Well, that's because there are things that were taken out of the more recent versions. For example..."

But before she could continue, the door opened again, this time by a certain raven haired boy.

"Figures! To think that I would find you reading... and _Hogwarts: A story_ of all things."

"Harry!" And in the blink of an eye, the bushy brunette had launched herself to her friend, giving him a fierce hug.

"Air... air... I need to..."

"Oh, sorry, it just that I was excited to see you again." Said Hermione blushing a little bit, while trying to recover some of her dignity,

Harry only smirked in mischief. "And here I thought that you were trying to kill me and make it look like an accident."

"Prat." Hitting him in the shoulder playfully.

After calming down his laughter, Harry took his sit next to Hermione before he also taking a shrunk book form his pocket and Hermione made him the favour to return it to its normal size.

"It seems that you're manners haven't improved, Potter. At least use some sort of courtesy and present yourself." Said Zabini with a flat tone to the newcomer.

"Why? We all know each other already." Said Harry like a child stating a fact. "Or it's that dear _Blaisy_ was looking forward to be greeted by little old me?" His tone, if joking, was clear of its double meaning.

Blaise blushed for a second (a feat given his dark skin tone) before snorting in disgust and turning away.

"He get you there..._Blaisy._" Commented Tracy totally amused.

"Please, don't." Said Daphne, before Blaise could retort to the taunt.

After that, silence came back again, affecting only one Tracy Davis who, at some point, followed Nott's example and fall asleep. Harry copied Hermione and started to read his book.

The train started is march, but it did nothing to affect the mood in the compartment. From time to time, Harry pointed something in his book and viceversa. The whole time, Daphne was watching the duo interact, like analyzing the scene for further use in the future. If Harry or Hermione noticed this, they didn't say something about it.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass was trying to decide what to do. When she entered the compartment, she was under the impression of being polite to a new muggleborn who, by the looks of it, was a possible candidate for Ravenclaw. It was side plan of hers, to have connections (more likely informants) in all the house from the start and gain an edge among her peers. The initial plan include until Tracy, Blaise and her, but Nott had slept in Blaise house since his father had to get out the country for some business. Still, she always let some room for eventualities, and thus, it wasn't too much of a problem to include the Heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Nott.

But everything change when Harry James Potter, the brother of the Boy- Who- Lived, entered the compartment. How in the nine circles of hell did the Ravenclaw wannabe met the Scion of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter? It wasn't a secret that Henry Charlus Potter was the Heir of the Potter Family, while his brother was the second in line, even if they were twins. Maybe it had to do something with the rumour that said that the Scion was actually a squib. A rumour, it seemed, to be false, if he was going to Hogwarts after all.

Daphne, as the others bar the Granger girl, knew each other thanks to the different parties and balls that they had to attempt with their parents since they were kids. It was a test ground for future alliances, and thus, a good practice for the time that they would have to take control of their inheritance. In all those occasions, Harry Potter was always quiet, and always interacted with others as less as possible, in some occasions burying himself in a book that he had sneaked into said balls and parties.

"_But now, he is different, more carefree. Does this girl had to do something with the change of his personality? Or maybe it is because he is going to Hogwarts that the dark cloud of being a squib had disappeared from above him?"_

Maybe the raven haired boy wasn't too powerful, which could translated into his late magical blossoming and his bad mood over it.

"_I think that it will better to wait and see. Henry Potter is not exactly my most favorite person ever, but neither is Harry Potter. If possible, having both of them at my side is the most ideal of outcomes, but I have the feeling that those two don't see each other eye to eye."_

It was, indeed, the most Slytherin thing to do at the moment.

* * *

"We are approaching Hogsmeade, we should start changing into our robes." Suggested Hermione.

Tracy and Nott woke up, and the girls politely invited the guys to change outside.

Hermione, though, decide to be more practical. Pressing a bracelet with a small circular gem in its middle, the brunette glowed for a second, before discovering herself in her scholar's robe set.

"That was a _Evan's Etiquette Sphere_! How did you get one? They were out of stuck really quickly and the next batch will be out next January 30th, the day of Lady Potter's birthday." Commented Tracy looking at her with some sort of innocent envy. Even Daphne was trying her hardest to conceal her look of longing.

In this dimension, Lily Potter's reputation as one of the brightest witches in generations was totally deserved. The Evan's Etiquette Sphere was one of her creations and was basically a watered down version of a hammerspace specifically for clothes. It had a limit of how many complete set of clothes it could hold, with a top max of six, composed by undergarments, a pair of shoes, a skirt or pants, blouse or a shirt, and a piece of jewelry. A set was 7 posible pieces to combine, those the Sphere could hold 42 pieces of clothes in total. Some people, especially woman, by passed the set using a one piece dress to add another piece of jewelry, or even, in some cases use the all 42 slots with only one kind of clothes. Sadly, they were rare, being their first launch into the market two years ago, and the second launch a year ago, being the last one the current year. The three occasions have something in common: they were the 30th of January, the birthday day of the creator. It was said that only 30 Spheres were in existence at the moment.

One only had to think what do you want to wear, and it immediately will appeared on your body. And the Spheres were virtually indestructible. One idiot even wanted to test that and cast a Killing Curse on it only to be shocked when the small crystal ball absorbed the magic. He was, of course, arrested and shipped to Azkaban, but the fact that he did probed that the new invention was actually what it was made to be. And they were practically unstealable. They only worked for the owner, and, if you wanted to passed it to another person, you needed to, willingly, without being coerced or controlled by any means (Hermione still haven't figured out how the heck Lily Potter achieved that), state that you wanted to give up, in something similar to a magical oath.

Lily Potter nee Evans was indeed a genius and Hermione took upon herself to surpassed her in the 'Brightest Witch of Their Generation' spot.

"My parents actually bought it really cheap. They found it by chance in a shop in non magical London, but they thought that it was a normal bracelet. It was too weeks ago that I finally knew what it really was."

"That is quite... fortunate on your part."

"Yeah, it sounds too much for a coincidences, but that's how it went."

Daphne narrowed her eyes while Tracy didn't how to react. When the boys returned, they could sense that something have changed, but neither could point out what it was. The group went back to whatever they were doing, but the prospect of being closer to Hogwarts, keep them a little bit more excited. Harry and Hermione drop their readings and started to talk about some things about their summers instead. Even Nott stayed awake, and the group listened when Hermione explain, with some question courtesy of Tracy for clarification, about her life in her world without magic.

And soon, the Hogwarts Express made his final stop. The finest magical institution was around the corner.

* * *

(DMLE Department, Ministry of Magic, London, England)

Frank Longbottom buried himself in paperwork after dropping his son in the Platform 9 ¾ for his first trip to Hogwarts. He had sent part of the day blowing some steam in the training room (some magical battle dummies weren't going to work properly in a while) and then continued his schedule with various reunions and other miscellaneous things. He prefered to be outside, working in the field, but from time to time he needed to sort out the administrative side of his job, notwithstanding how much he hated paperwork.

A knocking sound from his door.

"Come in."

A young woman entered in, with some papers on her hands. Her skin had a cinnamon tone on it, giving her an exotic look, coped with her pitch black, long straight hair braided in a single long tail, and brown eyes. Her figure was well defined, if modest, but she had a charm that could not be denied. Her name was Alistair Wilhelmina Carmel (Alice to her friends) and she was one of the few squibs working in the Ministry. Her placement as his secretary had cause some discontent in the Department and among his peers in general, but in the ten months that she had been working with him, her efficiency and ingenuity in her work had earned her some grudging respect from her opposition.

"Sir, there is a man called Dr. Wonderweiss that wants to speak with you."

"Does he has an appointment?"

"No sir, but he insist that it is worth your time."

"What had you found about him?"

"Nothing much, only that he is a researcher. Here in this file it is all I could find with such short notice." The woman said, passing him the papers that she had in her hands.

"Thanks Alice, as good as usual. Please, give me ten minutes and then let him in."

"Ok sir."

After she got out, Frank started to read the documents about the man wanting to talking with him. As his secretary said, the man was researcher. He had a an Arch Mastery in potions and a Mastery in Arithmancy. These made his eyebrows raise. Arch Mastery were the highest level as far as magical recognition went. Comparing it to the Muggle World, a graduate of Hogwarts should be the equivalent of a Bachelor Degree, while a Mastery would be Master Degree and a Arch Mastery would be equal to a muggle PhD. Getting one was extremely hard, and getting one was earned after you had invented something in the field of specialization. There was a reason why Albus Dumbledore was considered one of the most brilliant minds in centuries, since he had four Arch Masteries under his name. Those wizards that had six Arch Masteries were called Arch Wizards and Arch Witches.

The ten minutes passed and soon enough a middle aged looking man entered his office.

"Good evening, Mr. Wonderweiss. Please, take a sit."

"Good evening Lord Longbottom. Thanks for sparing a few minutes to talk with me." The man graciously sit down, waiting his chance to speak.

His skin was similar to his secretary, cinnamon toned, and his was fairly tall (as much as Shacklebolt in his opinion). His hair was short and kind of spiky, and was of a gray colour, despite looking no more than 25 years of age, though, ammond the wizardkind, not many reflected their true age, looking a lot younger than what they truly were. Frank Longbottom had to admit that the man's purple eyes got his attention, and made him wonder if maybe he was some sort of metamorphmagus. As far as his clothes went, the man had a white long coat that Frank recognized as one similar to what the muggle healers, doctors if he recalled correctly, wore.

"So, Dr. Wonderweiss, what did you want to speak with me?"

"Direct to the point, eh? I like that, it is better than wasting time. Well, I want to tell you that I think I can help you in curing your wife from her... condition."

Now, Frank Longbottom was prepared for many things, but not that. He, of course, made his opinions known. He wasn't up to be joking around.

"And tell me, Dr. Wonderweiss, why you think you can succeed. Many before you had come to me with the same proposal. What can assure me that his is not another plot to dry me out gold."

"Because, for one, I will not charge you a single knut." This shut up Frank immediately, who was staring at the Dr. in disbelief. "For another, I have proof of my success." Taking a folder out of his white coat, the man passed it to Frank. "These are come case that _we_ have treated, and we have obtained surprising results."

Frank opened the file and immediately was engrossed in reading, while his other hand had his wand out under his desk, aiming at the dark skinned man sitting in front of him. "Are these for real?" In his hand was a log of 32 cases of people being cure after having been in a vegetative state caused by long exposure by the Cruciatus Curse.

"It is. Of course, you may notice that, the most gravest of cases was a man that spent one year and a half under the same condition that your wife have been for the last 10 years. Most of them had been like that between 2 to 8 months. This is why we will not charge you. This is an opportunity to demonstrate beyond any doubt that the method that I have developed works."

Frank stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, pondering this pieces of news. If the man was right, then for the first time in a decade, he had some hope that maybe his wife could be back with him again. But he had been disappointed before many times and know, he was hesitating again.

"Tell me, how much is the success rate."

"It is difficult to say, since your wife is a really extreme case, but I will say that we have a chance of at least 82% of being successful."

That... that was awfully good.

"And what I need to do?"

"Well, you will need to sign a magical binding contract ensuring that both parts, you and me, fulfill their ends of the bargain. It is also for security reasons, since their is a clause of silence until the recovery becomes public. Here is a copy of the contract." His passed him another page.

"Do you understand that I need to verify your claims, right?" Frank said waving the folder.

"I understand. So, I have rented a room in the Leaky Cauldron until next Wednesday 4th, until midday. If you don't show up, I will assume that you don't want to do business with us and I will go elsewhere. Also, those fail had a failsafe and will autodestroy tomorrow at this hour."

"I understand."

It seemed that Alice will have a lot work to do in the next 24 hours.

* * *

(Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. somewhere in Scotland)

The ride in boat to the castle was as magical as the first time for Harry and Hermione, who had the misfortune to share their boat with Henry Potter and Ron Weasley, since Daphne, Tracy, Blaise and Nott took a boat on their own. While the other years didn't use said boats to enter the Castle, the first year need to since the ride gave Hogwarts the opportunity to add the new students to the wards, which extended far around her terrain. It also gave the opportunity to the students to see their new home for the next months in all its grandeur. Even some stoic looking students, like Daphne Greengrass, could help but show awe on their faces.

And now, only a few steps from the Great Hall, only separated by its big doors, the nervousness of the situation was starting to settle in among the students. At some point, Henry and Ron had started to argue with a petulant looking Malfoy, but they had been shuttered up by the arrival of Minerva Mcgonagall and her usual stern facade.

"Hey Tracy." called Harry to the brunette who was trying to put a brave front with the upcoming sorting. She, as many of them, had heard Ron talking about how his brothers had told him that they would need to out battle a Troll. The poor lad. "I bet you 10 sickles that I can guess where people are going to be sorted."

"You have a deal Potter." Said the girl with grin on her face.

"I want to participate as well." Said Zabini surprisingly. Both Daphne and Nott decided to stay out of it.

"You got it."

And like that, they waited only Mcgonagall came back and explained them how the sorting was done, which brought sighs of relief among the students. At least Ron gained a hit on his head by and annoyed Henry because he was puffed odd for his uselessness. It was kind of friendly, thought Ron wasn't too happy for being hitted.

"Abbott, Hannah!" McGonagall's voice started to call out. Said girl walked to the sorting hat.

"She will be a Hufflepuff."

And after a moment's silence the rip in the har opened back up and called out "_HUFFLEPUFF!"_.

"You got lucky." Commented Tracy. Daphne only narrowed her eyes.

And so, the sorting began. And one after one Harry was right about each sorting. At this point, the rest of the student noticed what was happening and only could stare in amazement that Harry was right each time. Blaise... he was getting out from somewhere his sickles and Tracy's (who put him in charge of her goods), admitting defeat. Tracy had been sorted long ago, alongside Hermione who was sorted in Slytherin, for the surprise of those that knew her lineage (they didn't knew that Harry and Hermione planned it that way).

"Macmillan, Ernie!" McGonagall called out.

"Hufflepuff," Harry said with a smirk.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" called out the hat.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

"Pfft. That ones obvious. Slytherin," Harry said dismissively.

As soon as the hat touched his head, it called out "SLYERHIN!"

"Moon, Cassandra!" McGonagall called out.

"Ravenclaw," Harry said in a bored tone.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat called out.

"How are you doing that?" Henry asked. Harry just grinned at him.

"Magic, my dear brother." The answer didn't please at all the Boy- Who- Lived.

"Murray, Rachel!"

"She'll go to Ravenclaw," Harry said, gaining another pointed questioning look from those around him.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Nott, Theodore!"

"Another easy one. Slytherin," Harry said followed by a yawn.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Parkinson, Pansy!"

"Slytherin again," Harry said.

And a moment later the hat yelled out "SLYTHERIN!"

"What are you doing?" asked Blaise, finally cracking.

"Magic trick," Harry said, still grinning slyly.

"Patil, Padma!" McGonagall called out.

"She'll go to Ravenclaw, but her twin sister will go to Gryffindor."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Patil, Parvati!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"How are you doing that? Ron asked in a shrill whisper. Harry began to laugh quietly.

"Perks, Sally-Anne!"

"Hufflepuff, _obviously,_" Harry said with a bit of a drawl as he continued to grin.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Potter, Henry" And everything went silent.

"Go luck in Gryffindor, brother of mine."

"That's a no brainer. Of course I can't be anything but a Gryffindor." said the boy, ay too sure of himself as he walked to McGonagall.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat said after a while. The Weasley Twins immediately started to chant _"We got Potter."_

"Reid, Addison!"

This confused the students that were left, since Harry looked way too much like the Boy- Who- Lived to be anything but his brother. Son, why he was skipped in the calling. And it was then that Blaise realized that Harry hadn't have his robes on, but a black sleeveless sweater on a dark tie and a long sleeved white shirt and black pants. He was the only to comprehend the true meaning of of dress, if his face of astonishment was anything to go by. Harry caught his eyes and winked.

"_Another_ Hufflepuff," Harry chuckled.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat cried out a moment later.

"Sinclair, Archibald!"

"And yet _another_ Hufflepuff. Gosh, we're going to have a lot of Puffs in our year."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Stewart, Naomi!" McGonagall called out next.

"Ah, finally another Gryffindor," Harry remarked.

"GRIFFINDOR!" the hat yelled.

"Tait, Garrick!"

"Let's see... not a real stand-out chap, but I'm pretty sure he'll be heading to Ravenclaw."

The group turned and watched the hat expectantly. A moment later it called out "RAVENCLAW!"

"Thomas, Dean!"

"And he'll go to Gryffindor," Harry said.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Turnbull, Samuel!"

"_Another_ Hufflepuff. Geez," Harry said with a comical exasperation.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Turpin, Lisa!"

"She'll be a Ravenclaw. Bet you five galleons," Harry remarked airily.

"Given your current track record, I'm not about to bet against you," Blaise said.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Weasley, Ron!"

"Oh, that _is_ obvious. A Weasley? Definitely a _Gryffindor."_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Tell me Blaise, do you want to know where are you going?"

"I know where I'm going Potter."

"Really? Then good luck in Gryffindor."

"Wait, what?!" said Zabini stopping dead cold when he heard him. He, of course thought that he was about to join the Snakes, but after witnessing how Potter was right about every single of the students, he was doubting himself. Soon, cold sweat started to drip from his forehead.

"It was a joke Blaise. You are going to Slytherin." Said Harry, unable to contain his laughter at the dark skinned boy's expenses.

When said boy was called, her walked away muttering about stupid raven haired boys. And, as Harry said, his was sorted into Slytherin. Still, when McGonagall took the Hat, his shoulders dropped in relief.

At this point, many had noticed that Harry was yet to sorted. A quick glance to the Slytherin table confirmed that Blaise was hushing something to Tracy and Daphne (surely pointing out _what_ was missing in his attire and what that meant). Hermione was looking at him in support. A lot of thing were about to happen and not many would like it.

Student were waiting for him to be sorted when Dumbledore stood up.

"It is my pleasure to announce that for the first time in history, a squib has been accepted in Hogwarts!" Dumbledore proclaimed cheerfully as if it was the best thing that had happened. Unfortunately, the rest of the school did not share his views. Every eye turned to stare a Dumbledore as if he was crazy, and then snapped to Harry.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore said. Whispers had gone up once again at full blow. Every student was looking at him in a hostile manner. As if a mouse had decided to visit a house of cats. Silently, everyone was praying that he wouldn't get sorted in their own house. What a shame that would be!

McGonagall beckoned Harry towards the seat with the sorting hat and Harry finally put it on. Afraid that he wouldn't be sorted and would have to go back home.

_Well what have we got here? A dimensional traveller as well as miss Granger? But, you are not an squib, Mr. Potter. Why make your life more difficult doing this? _The hat said though it sounded amused more than anything. _Oh, yeah, your plan. Well, you have seem to having made your mind up. Plenty of bravery there, not a bad mind either, and loyalty to friends. But what is this? Dear dear, more ambition than I have ever seen and that is saying something. Wit and cunning along with your tremendous ambition. You would have been a fine Slytherin do you know? But, you had decided already, and don't worry about secrecy, since I'm totally unable to spill your secrets. You will be then in... "_HUFFLEPUFF!"

The silence was deafening. The rest of the school was utterly perplexed. _A squib in Hufflepuff! _It was laughable and so they laughed. Laughter erupted from all the houses except Hufflepuff. They all looked gloomy. Some were looking murderous even.

"_So much for the house of loyalty." _Thought Harry while he walking to his new, not so welcoming, House.

* * *

**AN:**

Surprised? So for you to know, some parts of this chapter were inspired by some fanfics that I read long ago, and I can remember their names. If any of you knew which one, please Pm so I can give credit when is due.

I bet that no one of you expected Harry and Hermione to be sorted in different Houses like that, and she with the Snakes and he with the baggers? Yeah, I know it is way too OOC, but bear with me. Everything has a reason.

Also, did you liked Harry's mind trick? Yea, he was there picking the others psychologically, just to have some fun. But there are other reasons that are going to be explained in the next couple of chapters and in the long wrong. Like the Hat said, they DO have a plan.

And, what do you think about the scenes with Neville in the hospital, and later with his father. I'm not sure if I got his personality in a believable way, but I hope so.

Well, leave your opinions, criticism and words of encouragement. R&R


	6. Verse of the Beyond: First impressions

**AN: **Nas! It had been... a month since last update?! Wow, time flies. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and suggestions. I was suffering a mild writer's block, but your reviews inspired me back to action, so thanks. I hope to read about your opinions again in the future.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Verse of the Beyond: First impressions. **

* * *

**Sunday 1st, September, 1991 A.D.**

(Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Somewhere in Scotland)

"Ms. Granger, care to explain what happened back there?" Blaise Zabini asked, wanting to know why he was few sickles short. All the Slytherins in their proximity, some of the uppers year included that had hear the chit chat from the incoming first years telling unbelievable stories about seers making predictions. Only the fact that the supposed seer was by chance the first squib to ever attend the Hogwarts sacred walls caught their attention like an Old Grimoire would to any 'Claw.

"I think that you need to be more specific, Zabini." Singsong Hermione, clearly amused by their restrained curiosity. It WAS an amusing sight.

"What Blaise wanted to know," intercepted Daphne, "is if you knew what Scion Potter was doing. HOW he _guessed_ correctly where each one of us will be sorted into."

"That?!" she rhetorically stated/asked. "Don't think too much about it and don't let it fool you. It was just a simple magic trick."

"And what this _simple_ magic trick entails?" Zabini said, making a comeback.

"He just did something, here and there, somehow, gaining something from somewhere." Hermione said with a straight face.

"Damm it, mudblood, just answer the question!" said an enraged Pansy Parkinson, her patience drying out, in a enough low voice so anybody outside their table couldn´t hear outbursts.

Still, the snakes sit straighter at that, since Pansy's idiocy had brought out a subject that they were trying to avoid, at least until they reach the Slytherin's Common Room. That plan was throw out of the window know.

Hermione, with her bored expression, was not then, to the brunette's scowling face changed into a sweet smile.

"That's for _we_ to know and you to never find out. Besides, Heiress Parkinson, there are some _topics_ that can't be talked among some _polite_ company." Even Hermione´s voice had a playful eased tone in it, like she was just talking about something casual.

Still, Daphne, Tracy and Blaise had the willies. Parkinson, in her whining-bitch mode, was oblivious to the underlying meaning that Hermione skillfully conveyed and everyone else in the snake's table that wasn't named Pansy got it. She was about to retort something, but a hand on her shoulder cut her words before she could say them. Turning around, she paled when she discovered that said hand belonged to one Draco Malfoy, who gave her a glare.

Getting the message, Pansy sat back, retracting herself and stared pointedly ignoring the new bane of her existence.

The rest of the students decided to stay as bystanders of the confrontation, pondering, and plotting, about they had learn of the brief exchange, before making a decision about how to act with the rare muggleborn witch in their mists. But they knew something, they have to decide fast, possibly by the end of the night and, whatever they choose, would determine the how their next seven years in the magical castle will be.

This was the Noble and Ancient House of Slytherin. Social skills and politics went hand in hand.

* * *

Hufflepuff House, Harry mused, was displaying an impressive united front against him, ignoring his existence like he wasn't there. Even the recently arrived first years caught on what was happening and promptly joint their new housemates.

"_Loyalty at its finest...Yeah, right. More like sheep-like-mob thinking."_ sidedly commented Harry in his head, while looking at the Head Table. He was at the far corner of his House Table, separated by the rest of his housemates by a couple of empty seats.

He actually didn't mind, preferring the calm and comforting (at least to him) silence to think and ponder about how he will do his part on _their_ plan.

That's when the Headmaster raised again from his throne like chair. The Welcoming Feast was about to begin.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Before we all partake of the marvelous feast, I have a few short announcements to make. To all of you, welcome and welcome back. New students are advised, and some old students are _reminded_, that the Forbidden Forest is _forbidden_. Our caretaker Mr. Filch has also asked me to remind everyone that use of magic in the halls between classes is not allowed. He also asks that I mention that a complete list of banned items can be found in Mr. Filch's office. Finally, as some of you may remember, Prof. Binns moved to the next adventure last May, and thus, we want you to welcome Prof. Jacob Clayman as our new History of Magic teacher." The cheers around the whole student body as palpable. It seems that many shared the relief have their classes under the infamous ghost teacher were now a bad memory.

Still, this did not happened in his timeline, and thus he didn´t know what to think.

"Hey Tonks," said a third year Cedric Diggory, whispering to a girls next to him, "did you know something about this? Is it related to Myrtle's disappearance?"

This of course, got Harry's attention for various of reasons, being the most outstanding the why Call-me-Nymphadora-and-die Tonks was a sixth year prefect, when she was supposed to graduate the year before. The meta-witch, who at the moment wore a bright magenta hair and matching eyes, denied with her head, but did not offered more details and continue listening attentively the Headmaster.

"Professor Clayman, please feel welcome in our walls. Also, our new DADA professor,Quirinus Quirrell, wanted to remind you that the registering period for the Dueling Club are going to open for five days next week, starting from monday. Now, time to eat!"

As cue, the food magically appeared, bringing cheers from the students. Harry, while serving himself a large portion of meat and vegetables, was in autopilot thinking over all the things that he had learnt so far.

Dueling Club?! It seems, Harry mentally mused, that this world was more different than he originally thought.

* * *

(Hogwarts, Slytherin Common Room)

"My name is Gemma Farley, and I'm one of the prefects for this Noble House. In a few moments, Prof. Snape, our Head of House and Potion Teacher, will talk to all of you. Maintain respect and silent when he is speaking, and, in Salazar´s holy name, don't make stupid question." The girl, one could said, had a posture of being an aristocrat or a noble, and probably she was.

Hermione was amused when she noticed that several of her housemates were giving her badly concealed looks in apprehension. Ignoring them for the time being, the brunette looked around. The common room beyond had low-ceilings and appeared almost dungeon-like. It had greenish-colored lamps and lots of low backed black and dark green leather chairs and sofas with buttons in the shape of skulls. It had dark wood cupboards, and the tables that were placed throughout the room had snakes carved around the legs and around the outer edges. Overall it had a rather grand atmosphere, if not for the fact that it was also exceedingly creepy. Just when she was about to talk with a random fourth year student that sat on one of the sofas, their Head House made his entrance.

Severus Snape came in through the common room entrance with black billowing robes and his patented sour glare.

"Welcome to Slytherin house," Snape drawled in a deadly quiet voice as he began to look each one of the first years, like he was memorizing their faces. And, probably, he was.. "I am your head of house, Professor Snape. My office hours are posted on the bulletin board. If you _absolutely need_ to speak to me about something, come during those hours. Do _not_ come whining to me about your petty trivial disputes amongst yourselves. I will not _care._ If you are having trouble with your dorm mates do try to work it out amongst yourselves and if necessary seek the advice of a prefect. This is Slytherin and I expect a certain level of maturity from my snakes. Please do not disappoint me. As members of the great and noble house of Salazar Slytherin, a certain level of proper behavior is expected of you. You _will not_ misbehave in public," he looked directly into Pansy Parkinson, who fidgeted slightly, rooted where she stood. It seems that their new Head of House learnt really quickly about their... discussions... during the opening feast " and for those of you too stupid to manage to control your baser urges, you will make sure to _not get caught." _A paused. "Tomorrow, when you receive copies of your timetables for this year, you will notice that each class is shared with one or all of the other houses. Unfortunately the headmaster has the most annoying tendency to pair Slytherin house with Gryffindor house more often than not. When you are in a class with the Gryffindors you _will behave yourselves._ They are nothing but a bunch of reckless dunderheads and will cause more than enough damage to the school without having you all egging them on. Am I understood?"

Silence.

"_Am I understood!"_

"Yes sir," the group muttered as a whole.

"Good. The rules are all posted on the bulletin board on that wall," Snape pointed towards the notice board again that the prefects where also pointing at "I expect you all to _read it_, and _understand it._ Ignorance is not an excuse. The rules are clearly posted and claiming that you _didn't know_ will not get you out of punishments. You will learn fast that I do not take points from my own house, but do not think that means I will not _punish you_ when you misbehave. You will soon learn that having points removed is far preferable to a detention served with me or the caretaker, Mr. Filtch"

Hermione noted that many of her classmates, while keeping their cool, where obviously nervous about the whole thing. It seemed that Snape hadn't lost his touch.

"I also expect you all to make it to your classes in a timely manner. If you do not know how to get to your next class, ask a prefect or one of the older students. If you find yourself lost, ask one of the portraits on the walls for directions. Do not just wander aimlessly. Stick to your housemates until you have a good grasp on the layout of the castle. I do not want my snakes looking like a bunch of directionless layabouts who are tardy for their classes. The Gryffindors will do enough of that for the whole school."

"Breakfast is served every morning from 8am until 9am, lunch is from noon till one, and dinner is from six until seven. If you miss a meal, it is your own fault. I'm sure some of you will notice that try-outs for the quidditch team will be held at the end of next week, but first years are _not allowed on the team_. I will not listen to your whining about the unfairness of life, so don't even bother coming to me. You will have your chance to try out _next year_.

"I believe that is sufficient for now. If you have additional questions, ask one of the prefects, and if you absolutely _have to_, you can come see me during my office hours. Are there any questions right now?"

His black obsidian eyes trailed over the cowed group of first years one more time but then came to a lingering stop on Hermione. His sneer deepened considerably but Hermione kept her face passive and forced on a slightly confused innocence and rose a single questioning eyebrow. Snape's eyes narrowed and if looks could kill, the brunette would likely be having a coronary at that moment. Finally Snape rolled his eyes away and gave the crowd a curt nod. "Good. Now, the prefects will tell you about your accommodations. Good night."

An with that, with his cape-like black billowing robes trailing behind him, disappearing behind the doors of his office.

And like that, Gemma Farley took charge again.

"Now, something that you must know is that, contrary of what the other houses do, there are not distinctions between girls and boys as far as dormitories go, so you can share your room with members of the opposite sex. Still, we do have some rules about it. First, each room will house four of you. Second, you need to choose wisely, because once you elect your roommates, the settlement is final, and you will not be able to entered others. Third, if in the future for whatever reason you want to change the permission of three of the roommates need to agreed to it and that also applies to the roomates that will accept you. Keep that in mind, since your permission is not needed for a interchange like that. Finally, you can only change twice during the whole seven years that you will be in Hogwarts, and that's not negotiable, so, use you chances wisely. Any question?"

"Yeah, I have one." This time it was Pansy Parkinson, who seemed to out of her Snape-induced funk. "Why in Salazar´s name the sorting hat have decided to taint our Noble House with the presence of a _mudblood!"_

Once again, Common Room was in silence. Pansy had a sneer on her face, and fury in her eyes, while pointing her index at Hermione. Pansy had a bruised ego, being scolded by Malfoy, even without words, and their Head of House´s subtle jab at her person could do that, and the girl was pitiful like that.

"I am not sure, but Slytherin had housed other no-magical raised before. Am I mistaken, Prefect Farley?" asked Hermione, not taking seriously Pansy's accusation. Outwardly at least, she wasn´t. In truth, she was making a dance victory inside.

Hermione knew that something similar will occur at some point, but she didn´t know if anybody was stupid enough to act this soon. A true Slytherin would have wait and take a chance when the opportunity presented itself without getting caught. Luckily for her, Pansy jumped the gun in the her first night here. Now it was up to her how she would capitalize this opportunity.

"Indeed, scholar Granger, it had happened before. But the last one was 35 years ago." Informed the prefect to the listeners, albeit, the whole house. What she didn´t tell, and some of them knew, was that said muggleborn, a girl if the rumours are to be believed, dropped Hogwarts after two months and was transferred to Beauxbatons. It seems that the girl broke under the _tender_ treatment from her peers.

"See, Heiress Parkinson, nothing is out of normal. Maybe the Sorting Hat put me here because you lack some of the skills that are needed to be sorted in Slytherin."

"Shut it, mudblood. You don't bellow to either this House or our world. The kinds of you should be killed or serving under us as the filth that you are." Pansy was beyond angry, and many would swear that the girl was literally foaming through her mouth.

"The only thing that I see out of place is the ugly face that is in front of me, don't you think, _my dear._" In contrast, Hermione was calm and polite, like she was talking normal topics with her friends.

Many understood them what was happening. But before anybody could react, Pansy had the last straw!

"THAT'S IT! I, PANSY PARKINSON, HEIRESS OF THE ANCIENT AND NOBLE HOUSE OF PARKINSON, ISSUE A _BLOOD DUEL _AGAINST HERMIONE GRANGER! SO MOTE IT BE!" Her wand was extended, and a brief flash of greenish colour confirmed that the challenge had been approved by Magic itself.

"I, Hermione Granger, accept." The brunette took her wand, which emitted a pale green light, also confirming Magic's acceptance.

Gemma Farley, stunned by what had just happened, couldn't help it. "Shit!"

* * *

(Hogwarts, Hufflepuff Common Room)

"Tonks, spill it. What do you know about Binns and Myrtle?"

"I told you already, I don't have a clue!"

"But you were there when Binns passed to the afterlife. And you were the one that discovered that Myrtle was gone as well."

That and many other statements came from every directions to bomber Tonks, who at the moment had red hair and eyes, indicating that she was losing her patients.

From what Harry could gather, something happened last year that involved Tonks, and it was something really juicy.

"_For some reason I'm starting to channel Rita Skeeter." _The thought brought a shudder through Harry's spine.

That's when one of the Hufflepuff prefects turning in his direction, taking pity of Tonks, and addressed another problem.

"Mr. Potter, care to explain why the others first years affirmed that you _predicted_ all the sortings with perfect accuracy?"

Harry only raised an eyebrow in amusement.

* * *

"So, that was what happened." Confirmed calmly Snape, who was brought by other of the prefects to do something about the situation.

In front of him, both Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson were glaring each other with all the venom that they could muster, thought Parkinson seemed to have all her heart in it. Snape already had an headache, and it wasn't even pass that first day. And people had that gall to question why he was always frowning, especially his students. "Ms. Granger, do you know _what_ a Blood Duel entails?"

"Yeah, you win and the loser has to give up something to the winner." Said Hermione innocently.

The Potion Master controlled the urge to facepalm at the girls idiocy. "That may be truth, Ms. Granger, but there is more into that. The loser will be submitting her freedom, as well as their family's, to the winner."

Hearing that, Hermione paled, and it was all what Pansy need to put herself together.

"It's useless, Prof. Snape. Both of us has already accepted, and our magic had reacted accordingly. Draco, could you be my witness in the name of your Ancient and Noble House?"

The platinum blonde only nodded, stepping forward at one side the dueling platform that had appeared in the middle of the Common Room, courtesy of Hogwarts, and sat down in one of the two chairs that also appeared.

"I see. Then, I will be the proctor of this duel, and I declare that this will be a first blood duel. Ms. Granger, do you want to nominate someone as your witness?"

"I do. Scholar Greengrass, do you want to have the honours...?"

Daphne didn't say anything, and stepped forward, sitting next to Malfoy. She didn't want to be there, but to refused would implied that she wasn't strong willed and that she was inferior to Malfoy. That would be the worst of outcomes.

Still, it was obvious that Granger didn't knew how deep in shit she was. or how much, despite her annoying attitude, Parkinson had been trained in her family magicks. It wasn't much, but it was a lot more than a first year normally would know, specially more than a muggle born like her. Fortunately, her roll, as well as Malfoy, was just to oversee the result of this Blood Duel and communicate the results to their respective families.

"The rules are simple. The first one to draw blood from their opponent wins. All spells, bar the Unforgivables, are allowed. No physical contact between duelist and not magical or mundane weapons unless conjured. Understood the rules?"

Both sides nodded. The witnesses nodded as well.

"Then, begin!"

It happened in the blink of an eye. On second Snape, hand and wand raised, threw a loud bang with his wand, and a blink later Pansy Parkinson was thrown against the wall that was behind her... at 12 metres away. The girl collided with a loud thud, and passed out immediately. Her wand hand was bleeding like her skin had been peeled away and her wand was nowhere to be seem.

In less than a second the duel was over, and the spectators, Snape included, turned their gaze off the unconscious girl to the brunette that was standing at the other side of the duel platform, her right hand extended and her wand pointed at Parkinson.

"What the..." started saying Malfoy disbelieving his eyes, and what happened next didn't help his, or anybody else, sanity.

A brief flash and a silver ring appeared on Hermione's hand, and two _Code of Arms a_ppeared on her shoulder. The bottom was recognized as the House Parkison Shield. Likewise, on Pansy's robes appeared two Family Shields as well, her family's on the underneath the other one.

The Ancient and Noble House of Parkinson was now Vassal to the House of Granger. Hermione decided to put a tone of finality to the whole situation.

"Well, it seems that she was a _Pansy_ after all."

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And Cut!

Well, I think that it was a good place to stop, thought I wrote a lot of things that later were decided to be put in the next chapter^^.

Do you like it? Hate it?

R&R


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